A golden wild card!
John John Florence, surfer beloved by legions, is back. The three-time world champion, with no chinks in his game, is joining Carissa Moore and Stephanie Gilmore, thirteen championships between them, on the 2026 World Surf League Championship Tour after the “global home of surfing” gifted him a year long wildcard.
Surf journalist Jen See the first to declare, “Everyone back on the ski to reset!
The World Surf League took to social media to share, “3X World Champ, Pipe Master, Eddie Winner, and one of the most progressive surfers of all time. The dynamic approach John John Florence brings to wave riding is truly one of a kind. He blows minds and raises the bar for what’s possible on a surfboard every time he paddles out, and now, he’s back in the jersey.
The Legacy of John John Florence in Surfing
What thrill.
Whilst waiting for the official press release, surf fans everywhere are pondering the reasons for this rush back to tour. Did John John Florence, Carissa Moore and Stephanie Gilmore grow sad in their various retirements, needing the thrill of the singlet to make lives make sense? Did the specter of global economic collapse entice the aforementioned to come back for billionaire owner of professional surfing Dirk Ziff’s delightful drippings? Did the erasure of former World Surf League CEO Erik Logan’s silly final’s day format provide the push needed?
Florence is, of course, currently sailing from his Hawaii to Vanuatu on a fine catamaran with his young family and brothers Nathan and Ivan. Nathan, 31, had been pushing for his elder to join him on a Slab Tour and might be feeling sad today about the news.
Well, hopefully he is not feeling sad. Hopefully he is feeling buoyed, enjoying the salty wind buffeting his scraggly beard, nice functional shirt hugging his breast.
Down Rio way, another surf champion, one Filipe Toledo also might be feeling sad, though. The two-time world champion, who recently relocated from Lower Trestles to Brazil, recently had his baubles tarnished by his hero Kalani Robb sharing, “(Felipe’s) world titles will not ever be respected as much as a guy like John John or Kelly Slater that does it on a stage that we want to see. Unless you can make us feel, ‘oh you’re brave’, you’re only a very one-dimensional world champion.”
2022 and 2022 further diminished.
The 2026 World Surf League Championship begins, as it should, in April at Bells Beach and ends in Florence’s front yard of the Banzai Pipeline.
Kelly Slater, with bad hip, likely not competing though also likely very jealous of the golden wild card.
Does the announcement, in any case, make you thrill for the spring or is your mood, as it relates to professional surfing, as dour as ever?
Surf journalist Jen See added, “What a ridiculous sport!”
Fun and funny, I suppose.