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Hawaii surfers hailed at WSL awards event

Ferd Lewis
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WSL

Two-time world champion John John Florence of Hawaii held his World Title trophy at the WSL Awards Night in Queensland, Australia, today.

Thanking his competition “for pushing me, to a second consecutive Champion’s Tour world championship, John John Florence took home two of the eight awards across 12 categories bestowed on Hawaii surfers at the annual World Surf League Awards today.

The North Shore’s Finn McGill also took the title of WSL Junior Champion while Honolua Blomfield took the title of WSL Longboard Champion. The WSL Big Wave Tour Champion titles were swept by Paige Alms and Billy Kemper, both of Hawaii. Florence was also WSL Men’s Champion.

Carissa Moore and Florence received move-of-the-year awards, Moore for her performance at Trestles in San Clemente, Calif. in Sept. and Florence at Margaret River in western Australia in April.

Moore was also honored with Lakey Peterson for heat of the year in the quarterfinals at Trestles.

“Accepting this trophy for the second year in a row is so special to me,” Florence said at the banquet. “Last year, I really learned to step back and enjoy everything — the wins, the losses, just everything that we go through on tour — and it really made it a fun year. It is crazy to see the level of surfing that we have on the Championship Tour. Everyone continues to push the boundaries and to be a part of that is amazing.”

Florence said, “It’s so cool to see where surfing is going. I’d like to thank all of my fellow competitors for pushing me. I couldn’t do this without that inspiration.”

Lauren Rolland, spokeswoman for the WSL Hawaii/Tahiti Nui region said it was “extremely proud” its athletes took home more awards than any other region in the world.

The 2018 Championship Tour opens this weekend in Australia with the men’s Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast event and the women’s Roxy Pro Gold Coast.

Reporter Nina Wu contributed to this report.

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