Australia’s Joel Parkinson continues to rip it up as retirement approaches.

The 2012 world champion, who has 12 World Surf League championship tour career victories, showed off his brand of stylish surfing Saturday at the Vans World Cup of Surfing at Sunset Beach.

Parkinson didn’t get the heat win, but he did advance into the fourth round of the contest, which is the second stop in the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing and the last event of the WSL’s qualifying series.

“Parko is definitely an inspiration to me and everyone who’s stepped on a surfboard since he started his career,” said Kauai’s Sebastian Zietz, who nudged past Parkinson to win that third-round heat in 10- to 12-foot wave faces. “I think everyone is probably pulling for him, so I hope he wins the Triple Crown and wins every event. It seems right he finishes with a bang.”

Parkinson, 37, is coming off a win in the first Triple Crown event, the Hawaiian Pro at Haleiwa’s Alii Beach Park in November, and is aiming to end his storied career with a fourth Triple Crown (best surfer in the three season-ending events) championship. The final event of his career will be the Billabong Pipe Masters (Dec. 8-20) at Ehukai Beach, which is the Triple Crown finale and the final world tour contest.

WSL third-ranked surfer Filipe Toledo of Brazil, like Parkinson, placed second in his heat Saturday and moved on to the fourth round. Toledo is gearing up for the Pipe Masters, where he is one of only three competitors with a shot at the world title. The other two are No. 1 Gabriel Medina of Brazil and No. 3 Julian Wilson of Australia, both of whom are sitting out the Triple Crown’s middle event.

Honolulu’s Ezekiel Lau, who won the World Cup contest in 2013, had the second-highest wave score of the day, an 8.87 for two gouges and a difficult landing on an off-the-lip fin release.

Maui’s Billy Kemper, who won the Jaws Challenge on the WSL’s Big Wave Tour earlier in the week, did not make it through to the fourth round.

Griffin Colapinto of San Clemente, Calif., the defending Triple Crown champ, had the highest two-wave total Saturday, 16.37. Like Zietz, he is rooting for Parkinson.

“If our names could be back to back, I’d be pretty excited about that, so I’m hoping Joel takes it out,” he said.

Marty Thomas, one of the contest organizers, gave an outlook for the rest of the contest, which will resume with 32 surfers remaining:

“Sunday is supposed to decrease,” he said about the swell. “There might be an option, but we’re keeping an eye on that swell that’s coming for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. There is potential for it to be too big, maxed out here at Sunset Beach, but by getting today done, it sets us up to cherry pick that swell. If it doesn’t get too big, we can score on the final day.”

Hawaii surfers Nathan Florence, Seth Moniz, Joshua Moniz, Michael O’Shaughnessy and Tanner Hendrickson were eliminated in the third round Saturday.