"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about John John competing at Trestles," respected coach and former pro surfer Mitch Ross told Stab magazine.

She added: “It just feels like there’s this fucking dark cloud that you have to deal with even after having a flawless year. It’s fucking scary.”

Ross is referring to what he considers to be an injustice, which is basically that a year's worth of work in different locations around the world can go down the drain in a single day.

John John Florence finished the world tour 3000 points ahead of second-placed Griffin Colapinto and almost 10.000 ahead of third-placed Jack Robinson. He also won the title almost in advance, needing only to touch water in Fiji.

Meanwhile, Caity Simmers beat Caroline Marks by almost 5000 points.

Both could lose the title if they are beaten by whoever reaches the grand final of the WSL Finals between 6 and 14 September in Lowers, as happened to Carissa Moore in the last two editions.

At the men's level, the ranking result was never reversed. In 2021, Medina came in as leader and won the finals, and in 2022 and 2023, Toledo came in as leader and also won.