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***UPDATE***

John John is the Rip Curl Pro Portugal champion after winning his final against Connor Coffin. The Hawaiian went ballistic in the waves of Peniche, performing a number of impressive signature aerials including a full rotation 360 that scored a 9.50 from the judges. It is John John’s second CT win for 2016.

John John Florence is the 2016 WSL World Champion.

After years of hype and letdowns, the kid from Oahu, who has been “arguably” the best surf in the world for a number of years now, can finally remove all doubt.

With Medina knocked out during the early stages in Portugal, all eyes were on John John. Would “the surfer’s surfer” handle the pressure? Or would he crash and burn?

The 24-year-old didn’t just handle the pressure, he thrived on it. Surfing with strategy and tact, something that we hadn’t seen in previous years from him. He faced tough challenges in the likes of Julian Wilson in his quarterfinal, and Kolohe Andino in the semi, but it never seemed likely that we wouldn’t be seeing JJF in the final at Peniche.

The only question was, would Jordy Smith be joining him?

With the way the points shook out, it was the tall South African who was the only mathematical chance of taking the world title race to Hawaii.

So when John defeated Andino in his semifinal, all he could do was sit and watch as his fate was decided over 30 minutes. 

Jordy put up a good fight, but rookie Connor Coffin was equally impressive, and took a commanding lead when he threaded a rare Supertubos barrel to score a nine point ride. Jordy had a mountain to climb for his slim world title hopes, and it proved too much in too little of time, with the buzzer sounding and JJF be crowned the king for 2016.

“I can’t believe it. I was expecting it to go to Hawaii,” Florence told WSL commentator Rosy Hodge when it was realised he would be the world champion.

“Really my whole life has gone towards this.”

John John becomes just the fourth Hawaiian ever to win a world title, and the first since the legendary Andy Irons.

It caps off an amazing year for John John, who also won the prestigious Quiksilver In Memory of Eddie Aikau in perfect conditions at Waimea Bay at the start of 2016. 

He will now compete against Connor Coffin for the Rip Curl Pro Portugal title, watch it now at http://www.worldsurfleague.com/