Following a historic day at Waimea Bay that featured 20-foot Hawaiian waves breaking all day, Hawaiian lifeguard Luke Shepardson was crowned champion of the Eddie Aikau Memorial Event, perhaps the biggest upset in the event's 10-year history in nearly 40 years.

In his two performances, Shepardson posted near-perfect 89,1s on his best three waves, comprised of two perfect scores (two 30s and a 29,1).

John John Florence, the defending champion, was just under five points behind, scoring 84,2 (30+28,7+25,5).

Third place went to Mark Healey and fourth to Billy Kemper, who was injured in the Backdoor Shootout.

Fifth place went to Kai Lenny and sixth to Ezekiel Lau who received special recognition for surfing the best wave of the day.

It was the first time women competed and the best female result was Hawaiian Paige Alms who finished 31st out of 40 competitors.

Chilean Ramón Navarro had a strong performance, finishing 20th out of 40 competitors, scoring a total of 60 points out of 90 possible. He got all his best waves in his second heat: 17,5+18.5+24.

At the awards ceremony, a countdown was held to determine the winner and people exploded with joy when the lifeguard wearing his work uniform was crowned winner.