Following the insane show and carnage of beatdowns, reef cuts and busted sticks of day 3, the final day of competition at the Volcom Pipe Pro couldn’t have asked for a better, more exciting nail-biting final to bring a close to the comp. Pipeline’s John John Florence claimed his second consecutive title in the final seconds, which until then had been lead by former Pipe Pro champion Jamie O’Brien for the whole heat. Florence took 1st place with a buzzer-beating 9.93 Backdoor barrel. With a minute to go, Florence had already paddled over to Jamie O’Brien and congratulated him when he spotted one final wave, which, together with his earlier perfect 10-point ride, put his combined heat score at 19.93 out of a possible 20 to edge out Jamie O’ into 2nd, Kai Barger in 3rd and Nate Yeomans in 4th.

“I wrote myself off half way through,” said Florence. “Kai and Jamie both had nines and eights. Jamie had two nines. I can’t believe it. Here at Pipe anything can happen. I surfed my first heat, then had my hand (injury) and tweaked my neck really bad and that was killing me. So I was seriously considering not continuing on. I got some work done on my neck, taped my hand up and it all worked out.”

“It hurts,” said Jamie, holding onto the runner-up $10,000 check. “You think you’re going to get first and you don’t. It’s OK. I got some really good scores and I put on a great performance, I felt. To me that means everything. I had a great time. I finally got in a good rhythm my last couple of heats. I enjoyed myself and it was a good day.”
This event marks the second consecutive year that Florence and O’Brien have taken the number 1 and 2 spots at the Volcom Pipe Pro.

Euros to standout in the super challenging Pipeline conditions included Jonathan Gonzalez (who made it to the Semis) and Joan Duru (Round of 32). Stay tuned for more video highlights soon.

FINAL RESULTS
1st – John John Florence (HAW) 19.93pts, $20,000
2nd – Jamie O’Brien (HAW) 19.40pts, $10,000
3rd – Kai Barger (HAW) 18.20pts, $6,500
4th – Nathan Yeomans (CA, USA) 7.57pts, $5,500