John John stealing the lead from J.O.B. in the last
few seconds of the Volcom Pipe Pro. Photo: Bielmann

John John Florence has been on a roll, claiming titles left and right and it doesn't look like he's slowing down either. John John just pulled one of professional surfing's most dramatic events enroute to claiming his second consecutive Volcom Pipe Pro title. Jamie O'brien, the former Pipe Pro champion saw the title disappear right in front of his eyes as Florence was able to squeeze in an incredible backside tube in the last 5 minutes that looked extremely difficult and nearly impossible...only to blast out of it and scoring a perfect 10.0.

O'brien may have had the advantage...for 34 minutes and 45 seconds with his near perfect 9.0, 9.43 and 9.93 waves and his nearest competitors, Kai Barger's 9.33 wasn't enough when he wasn't able to pull off a second wave.

With one minute to go, Florence decided to do what any good sport would, paddle over and congratulate O'Brien. Out of the corner of his eye, with fifteen seconds left, Florence hauls ass and makes it over the ledge, under the lip into the heat winning tube ride of 9.93 to claim first place and a fat $20,000 check. We see the parallel of how Florence lost in nearly the same way to Kelly Slater during the Pipe Masters only to use that as fuel and gearing him up for one of pro surfing's greatest careers ever.

Peep the rest of the official press release below:

"I wrote myself off half way through," said Florence. "Kai and Jamie both had nines. I can't believe it. Here at Pipe anything can happen.

"With 40 seconds to go I wasn't even thinking about it. I was like, yeah Jamie, congratulations, I won last year and I'm stoked for you. Then I turned around and there'ss a peak. I didn't even know if he was going. I was going to go left and backdoor the peak, then I ended up having to fade, go right, and barely got under it. It was a wild ride.

"Last year this gave me so much confidence going into the year. This is the first contest of the year and I've got confidence again. So much has gone down in the last year, qualifying for the tour, changing my whole way of surfing and trying to get into the contest thing. I'm so happy right now."

Back on the beach, O'Brien and Florence shook hands and O'Brien shook his head.

"Man, I feel like you just threw me out of the car before we got home," said O'Brien. "I'm going to come and steal that trophy from you in the middle of the night," he laughed.

Nine years John John's senior, O'Brien has long been the man to beat at Pipe, having won at Pipe Masters, Backdoor Shootout, and multiple Volcom Pipe Pros. But Florence is quickly leveling the scores.

Third place in the final was Barger. Fourth was Yeomans.

From today's results, the following surfers have won a spot in the first round of next December's Pipe Masters: O'Brien, Barger, Billy Kemper (Maui), Flynn Novak (Oahu), Fred Patacchia (Oahu), Kalani Chapman, and Bruce Irons. Florence is an automatic starter at the Pipe Masters as he is on the elite ASP World Tour.

Next up for Volcom is their Volcom Fiji Pro, June 3-15 - the fourth of 11 events that comprise the ASP World Tour.