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Jason KenworthyIn the last six months, nobody's been more dominant than John John Florence.

John John Florence has won the 2012 Billabong Pro Rio, beating Joel Parkinson in the final. Florence now sits ranked sixth in the world, while Parkinson has taken over the top spot on the ASP World Tour ratings.

Florence's victory furthers a string of good results for the 19-year-old Hawaiian, and is proof positive that he can succeed in any and all conditions. In December he was crowned the 2011 Vans Triple Crown Champion and won the Vans World Cup at Sunset Beach. Then in January he won the Volcom Pipe Pro, followed by a first place finish at the Drug Aware Pro in Western Australia in March, and most recently he posted an equal third place finish at the Nike Lowers Pro. It would be hard to argue that anybody -- even Kelly Slater, who now finds himself sitting an uncharacteristic eighth in the ratings -- has been more dominant over the last six months.

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Jason KenworthyBe it Hawaii, Australia, or in this case, Brazil, John Florence continues to lead an impressive charge.

Heartbreak comes in many forms. For Julian Wilson it arrived as a last-second tube by John Florence on Tuesday at Billabong Pro Rio. In Adriano De Souza's case it was the fact he lost with a perfect 10 in his scoreline.

On a day best described as feast or famine, Wilson had it figured that his round four win was a lock. In fact, he'd already come in when Florence took off on a thick, frothy wave at the horn and came flying out. Relegated to round five, Wilson would fight his way back, and will now, coincidentally, face Florence in the quarterfinals.

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Jason KenworthyAdam Melling scores a 9.67 on this tube ride.

At the onset of the Billabong Pro Rio the smart money would have been on Gabriel Medina. Coming off a huge roll at the start of the month at the Nike Lowers Pro where critics, pundits and fans were convinced they'd witnessed one of the most dominate performances in Trestles history, it was assumed he would be unbeatable back on his native soil, or salt water, if you will.

Oh but what an equalizer the ocean can be. Wildcard Peterson Crisanto, another Brazilian, stepped up and upset Medina handily.

"I knew that heat wasn't going to be easy with Gabriel (Medina) so I just tried to stay on the rights and try and find the barrels," Crisanto said in his post-heat interview. "I almost made the first barrel, but I made the second one, so I'm happy to get through to the next round. I just tried to stay relaxed and find the right waves."

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Jason KenworthyThis win in Rio makes two for Fitzgibbons.

Sally Fitzgibbons rode her much-talked-of little epoxy board to a second 2012 World Tour win at the Billabong Rio Pro on Sunday. The 21-year-old Aussie pocketed a surfboard-shaped check for $25,000 and 10,000 points towards a world title after amicably defeating Hawaiian Coco Ho, also 21, in a nerve-wracking final. Fitzgibbons claimed victory with just 0.07 on Ho. The final scores were 14.10 to 14.03.

After a few flat days, Barra da Tijuca appeared to be positively pumping on Sunday morning as clean 1- to 3-footers hit the bank, though conditions were still hairy and the finalists suffered their share of rail digs and wipeouts.

While Fitzgibbons's sage equipment selection undoubtedly played a part in her success, she's had an incredibly strong season and consistently impressive results at the Rio Pro. Despite having logged heaps of scores, her wave selection was off during the final and Ho held a respectable lead until Fitzgibbons nabbed a bomb (by the week's standards, anyway). She parlayed four spectacular turns into a last-minute conquer.

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Jason KenworthyAlessa Quizon made the best of poor conditions on day three of the Billabong Pro Rio.

After flying 8,000 miles to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Alessa Quizon wasn't even sure if she had the wildcard slot in the Billabong Pro. Four days later, the standout Hawaiian junior had taken down Steph Gilmore, Lakey Peterson, and Courtney Conlogue en route to the semi finals.

"I was just so nervous and I had to make it count," Quizon said after her quarterfinal match-up with Conlogue. "I just saw this wave coming in and I was just going to go right; I'm stronger on my backhand. I was just so caught up in the moment and wanted to make the best out of it."

Coco Ho decisively sent a frustrated Gilmore packing after the second quarterfinal, which loosened the four-time world champion's grip on the top seed -- though exactly how much remains to be seen. Gilmore now has 38,400 points for the season, and if Sally Fitzgibbons wins on Sunday, she'll have 36,900.

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Sure, Mark Healey's not crazy. Totally believe that one. Just being around him scares me, especially if he's wearing buckskin.

His good friend Dave Wassel described him the other night at the XXL Awards as "the next Laird Hamilton: half the size and twice the freckles."

Self deprecation is part of the play for Healey and his group of non-crazy friends. It's how they humbly shrug off doing non-crazy things like going left at Waimea or hitching rides on the backs of Great White sharks. But in all seriousness, ask anybody and they'll tell you, Healey's the man.

ASP/ DunbarPosting two eights, Coco Ho put together a solid showing in less than accommodating conditions.

The Aussies are claiming jet lag, but Steph Gilmore, Sally Fitzgibbons and Laura Enever didn't look even remotely fatigued as they escaped the second round of the Billabong Rio Pro on Thursday. Gilmore's 16.70 was the highest two-wave total of the day, closely followed by Coco Ho's 16.57 in heat six.

High-octane wasn't the name of the game at Arpoador in the morning. The chest-high cerulean swells looked pretty, but swallowed more than a few of the elite ladies as the top seeds fought to stay afloat.

"They called the contest on and I was really worried," Gilmore said after her second heat win over Melanie Bartels. "I was praying and hoping that they would say, 'Oh no, the forecast tomorrow's going to be 6-foot and perfect, but it just wasn't to be, so we had to go out there and just deal with it. I wasn't expecting a couple of eights. I don't know, it kind of started pulsing in our heat. We both got pretty high scores and I'm happy to get through round two."

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Jason KenworthyMaybe making up for his first round loss at the Lowers Pro, Julian Wilson snapped back with the highest heat score of round one in Rio.

Much to their credit, losing in round one at the Lowers Pro did not sit well with either Julian Wilson or Kolohe Andino. All they could do was swallow the bitter pill and wait until Rio.

The Billabong Pro Rio began Wednesday and Wilson wasted no time shaking off the angst. In the wonky, semi-closed out wave at Arpodor, Rio De Janeiro, he pieced together the highest heat score of the day.

"I think after that heat at Lowers where I had the interference today was a bit of redemption," Wilson said. "To come down here, I still had a bit of frustration and I just wanted to come out of the gates strong and get a good solid start. The waves were really fun in that heat, so it was exciting to do well."

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Jason KenworthyLakey Peterson is quickly earning her stripes on tour as she clocked the highest wave score of the day.

The Top 17 have grown accustomed to tricky conditions this season and the bounce and wash refracting off the rock at Rio de Janeiro's Arpoador Point on Wednesday afternoon was no exception.

The Billabong Pro Rio is the fifth of seven stops on the 2012 ASP Women's World Tour, and not only is the season's second largest check up for grabs ($25,000), but the women's title race is heating up as Steph Gilmore currently leads runner-up Sally Fitzgibbons by 6,300 points, and Tyler Wright and Courtney Conlogue are in third and fourth, respectively, with just 300 points separating them.

But that's all on paper, it's a different story in the water. Lakey Peterson put in the performance of the day after a riveting clash with fellow Californians Courtney Conlogue and Sage Erickson. Trailing in the heat, Peterson fought back with her typical zeal, easily scoring a 9.77 for four technical turns … and a claim (it is Brazil, after all). That was the highest score of the day -- men's or women's. Erickson regained the lead with little time to spare, but Peterson took it right back.

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Tom ServaisSpending recent days in Australia, Indo and Fiji, Slater is opting out of the next ASP stop in Brazil.

As of Tuesday, Kelly Slater, who currently sits first in the ASP World Tour rankings, has officially withdrawn from the Billabong Pro Rio, which begins this week in Brazil.

"I injured the inside of my left heel in Java and then re-opened it again the following week at Cloudbreak," Slater said in the ASP's official statement. "It became infected and I flew to Australia to get it treated and stitched in hopes of making it to Rio, if not for Round 1, at least for Round 2. I've been in the water since getting it stitched and while I can go straight, I can't do turns at all right now so I'll have to pull out of Rio. It's unfortunate, but I'm just going to focus on healing up as soon as possible right now. Good luck to all the competitors in Brazil and I'll be watching online."

Slater's been known to miss events in the past, and much to the chagrin of fellow World Tour competitors, still win the title. Last year, he did not surf in the Billabong Pro at Jeffreys Bay and he won his 11th World Title.

Last week during the Nike Lowers Pro, I asked Travis Lee from Channel Islands, who's responsible for all of Slater's surfboards, what's the likelihood of the 11-time world champ going for a 12th title? Lee alluded that baring any further injuries, he doesn't foresee Slater missing any other events.

Remaining on the ASP schedule are stops in Fiji and Tahiti, both of which rank among Slater's favorite waves, then comes Lower Trestles, where he's the most winningest competitor ever, followed by France, another favorite destination of Slater's.

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