![\"Kelly](\"http:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/uploads\/dfcf9694-3340-b276.jpg\")
\nPictured: Kelly Slater (USA), 41, 2013 Billabong Pipe Masters Champion.<\/p>\n
Billabong Pipe Masters in Memory of Andy Irons
\nEvent No. 10 of 10 on the 2013 ASP World Championship Tour (WCT)
\nBanzai Pipeline, Oahu\/Hawaii
\nDecember 8 – 20, 2013<\/p>\n
Kelly Slater Wins Pipe Masters-World Title Mick fanning-Vans Triple Crown Winner John John Florence<\/p>\n
\nPictured: Kelly Slater (USA), 41, 2013 Billabong Pipe Masters Champion.<\/p>\n
Credit: ASP\/CESTARI <\/p>\n
BANZAI PIPELINE, Oahu\/Hawaii (Saturday, December 14, 2013) – Kelly Slater (USA), 41, has won his 7th Billabong Pipe Masters in Memory of Andy Irons after a day of incredible 10-to-15 foot (three to four metre) waves at Pipeline today. Slater defeated John John Florence (HAW), 21, in a hard-fought, 35-minute Final that ended with less than half-a-point separating the two. The runner-up finish for Florence saw him crowned 2013 Vans Triple Crown of Surfing champion.<\/p>\n
The final day of the Billabong Pipe Masters capped off the 2013 ASP World Championship Tour (WCT) season in fine style, with epic conditions providing the ideal backdrop for the crowning of Mick Fanning (AUS), 32, as the ASP World Champion. It also finalized the ASP Top 34 roster for 2014. Fanning finished third overall, defeated by Florence in their Semifinal.\u201cIt was a strange Final,\u201d Slater said. \u201cJohn John (Florence) and I both waited for a while and neither of us really got a score until late in the match. I knew it was going to be a sprint and it was probably a little advantageous not to have priority in the Final as I was able to go for a lot of waves instead of wait for those that took a while to eventuate.\u201d<\/p>\n
With tens of thousands packing the beach at Pipeline, and the gravitas of Slater\u2019s 56th elite tour victory apparent, the greatest athlete the sport has ever produced was emotional on the final day of 2013.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe crowd today is the biggest I have ever seen at Pipe,\u201d Slater said. \u201cIt\u2019s unbelievable. I woke up in the dark and my friend Ross Williams was at my house saying he couldn\u2019t even get his bike on the road to ride over here. We\u2019re so excited to be here at Pipe, especially when the waves are good. All the people on the beach and online and watching on television make it that much more exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speculation surrounding Slater\u2019s eventual departure from the \u2018Sport of Kings\u2019 has been present at the season-ending event for the past several years, often supported by questions regarding motivation, legacy and physicality. The iconic American addressed these rumors unprompted today while on stage collecting his seventh Billabong Pipe Masters trophy.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year, someone asked me what excited me in the end years of my career and I said I would like to surf a Final at Pipe against John John (Florence) so that\u2019s pretty special today,\u201d Slater said. \u201cTo win is even better. I want to surf against the best surfers at the best waves \u2013 that\u2019s why I\u2019m on tour. I was obviously emotional today, especially after Mick (Fanning) clinched the title in the Quarters. I don\u2019t know what happens for me in 2014 but I think that has pissed me off just enough to come back.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cToday was one of the most special days in my life,\u201d Slater continued. \u201cIt\u2019s a day I have dreamed about since I was a little kid \u2013 big, perfect, West-angled Pipeline and a showdown at the Pipe Masters. If I had stepped away from the sport five years ago, I wouldn\u2019t have had today. I want more days like this so I\u2019m definitely back next year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fanning\u2019s road to the 2013 ASP World Title was nothing short of spectacular on the final day of competition. Finding himself behind during both his Round 5 and Quarterfinals bouts, the iron-nerved Australian nailed huge Pipeline scores in both occasions to take the heat wins and his third world surfing crown.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never put myself in the same circles as Tom Curren and Andy Irons,\u201d Fanning said. \u201cTom (Curren) is such an enigma and was so instrumental to injecting style into our sport. Andy (Irons)\u2026what hasn\u2019t been said about Andy? He was such a legend and he was such a good friend. I\u2019m honored to be a part of this group. I was happy with one title and I was overwhelmed with two. With three? I don\u2019t have words for that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today marked John John Florence\u2019s second Vans Triple Crown Title, but his runner-up in the final event forces him to hang on to his life-long dream of one day hoisting the Pipe Masters trophy. The youngster, who lives right here at Pipe, battled Slater with a series of exciting exchanges during the final 10 minutes, coming painfully close.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is my second Triple Crown but it feels pretty special,\u201d Florence said. \u201cThe first year, I wasn\u2019t really thinking about it. I was young and just having fun. This year, I came into the Triple Crown wanting to win it, but I honestly didn\u2019t think I had a chance until we got to the final day at Pipe. This result has me motivated for next year. It\u2019s eating my inside how close I was, but I\u2019m still stoked.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joel Parkinson (AUS), 32, defending Billabong Pipe Masters Champion, took a Quarterfinals victory over Brazilian Miguel Pupo (BRA), 22, but fell to Kelly Slater in the Semifinals. Parkinson posted two solid scores of his own in the bombing Pipeline conditions, but was unable to put a stop to a near-perfect heat from Slater.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would have liked to make it to the final just to surf more perfect waves,\u201d Parkinson said. \u201cKelly was always in the right place and no matter where he paddled waves were coming to him. I never ruled myself out, because I knew if I could find a 10, then it\u2019d be game on again. It was one of those ones where the two best surfers of the whole event ended up in the final together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Highlights from the Billabong Pipe Masters are available via vanstriplecrownofsurfing.com<\/p>\n
The 2014 ASP Top 34, including wildcards, will be announced tomorrow.<\/p>\n
For additional ASP information log on to www.aspworldtour.com<\/p>\n
BILLABONG PIPE MASTERS FINAL RESULTS:
\n1 – Kelly Slater (USA) 16.37
\n2 – John John Florence (HAW) 15.90<\/p>\n
BILLABONG PIPE MASTERS SEMIFINAL RESULTS:
\nSF 1: John John Florence (HAW) 18.30 def. Mick Fanning (AUS) 5.00
\nSF 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 19.63 def. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 14.84<\/p>\n
BILLABONG PIPE MASTERS QUARTERFINAL RESULTS:
\nQF 1: Mick Fanning (AUS) 17.03 def. Yadin Nicol (AUS) 16.90
\nQF 2: John John Florence (HAW) 16.77 def. Julian Wilson (AUS) 13.00
\nQF 3: Kelly Slater (USA) 18.80 def. Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 7.80
\nQF 4: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 12.83 def. Miguel Pupo (BRA) 6.00<\/p>\n
BILLABONG PIPE MASTERS ROUND 5 RESULTS:
\nHeat 1: Mick Fanning (AUS) 12.00 def. C.J. Hobgood (USA) 10.50
\nHeat 2: Julian Wilson (AUS) 10.67 def. Nat Young (USA) 7.26
\nHeat 3: Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 16.60 def. Kai Otton (AUS) 4.33
\nHeat 4: Miguel Pupo (BRA) 15.27 def. Jeremy Flores (FRA) 10.76<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Billabong Pipe Masters in Memory of Andy Irons Event No. 10 of 10 on the 2013 ASP World Championship Tour (WCT) Banzai Pipeline, Oahu\/Hawaii December 8 – 20, 2013 Kelly Slater Wins Pipe Masters-World Title Mick fanning-Vans Triple Crown Winner John John Florence Pictured: Kelly Slater (USA), 41, 2013 Billabong Pipe Masters Champion. Credit: ASP\/CESTARI … Continue reading “Kelly Slater Wins Pipe Masters-World Title Mick fanning-Vans Triple Crown John John Florence”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17713,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[24],"class_list":["post-14032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asp-surfing-news","tag-surfing-news-archive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14032"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14032\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17714,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14032\/revisions\/17714"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}