John John Florence was steamrolling through the 2019 Championship Tour when he suffered a tragic, season-ending knee injury at the Oi Rio Pro last June.
With a torn ACL and his shot at a third World Title dashed, he underwent surgery and the long, painful process of regaining his champion form, and ultimately, qualifying for the inaugural U.S. Olympic Surf Team.
Florence's new film, "Tokyo Rising," tells the story of this journey and how the two-time World Champ has dealt with it ever step of the way.
John returns from blowing out his knee to out perform Kelly Slater at the 2019 Pipe Masters thus qualifying for the Olympics.
"It's been a couple interesting years for me in my life," Florence told the WSL's Chris Cote on this week's episode of World Surf Weekly.
"From being injured to coming back onto the tour and having a really good start, and just being injured again, and then trying to come back to qualify for the Olympics … There have been so many people in my life that have inspired me to go and make a goal and go after it, and so I hope I can inspire anyone who's got an injury or anything like that. Things are still possible," continued Florence.
And now, with the announcement that the 2021 Championship Tour will kick off with the Billabong Pipe Masters, Florence will have home court advantage as he makes his return to full-time competition.
"I'm always working on making my mind better, I've found that, for me, my mental area in my life is the most important for competitive surfing, and just really getting into a good mental space before competing," Florence continues. "I think last year before i got hurt I was really in that good mental space where I was having fun competing."
"Tokyo Rising," produced by Florence's production company Parallel Sea, is now available on Amazon Prime Video. And you can hear more from him on World Surf Weekly.
Stay tuned for a more in-depth conversation with Florence coming in the days ahead.
John John Looks To Inspire In New Film "Tokyo Rising"
Jake Howard
John John Florence was steamrolling through the 2019 Championship Tour when he suffered a tragic, season-ending knee injury at the Oi Rio Pro last June.
With a torn ACL and his shot at a third World Title dashed, he underwent surgery and the long, painful process of regaining his champion form, and ultimately, qualifying for the inaugural U.S. Olympic Surf Team.
Florence's new film, "Tokyo Rising," tells the story of this journey and how the two-time World Champ has dealt with it ever step of the way.
"It's been a couple interesting years for me in my life," Florence told the WSL's Chris Cote on this week's episode of World Surf Weekly.
"From being injured to coming back onto the tour and having a really good start, and just being injured again, and then trying to come back to qualify for the Olympics … There have been so many people in my life that have inspired me to go and make a goal and go after it, and so I hope I can inspire anyone who's got an injury or anything like that. Things are still possible," continued Florence.
And now, with the announcement that the 2021 Championship Tour will kick off with the Billabong Pipe Masters, Florence will have home court advantage as he makes his return to full-time competition.
"I'm always working on making my mind better, I've found that, for me, my mental area in my life is the most important for competitive surfing, and just really getting into a good mental space before competing," Florence continues. "I think last year before i got hurt I was really in that good mental space where I was having fun competing."
"Tokyo Rising," produced by Florence's production company Parallel Sea, is now available on Amazon Prime Video. And you can hear more from him on World Surf Weekly.
Stay tuned for a more in-depth conversation with Florence coming in the days ahead.
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