Andy Irons wins third world title

JOAQUINA, FLORIANOPOLIS, BRAZIL – Kaua‘i native Andy Irons clinched his third consecutive Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship tour (WCT) crown Monday.

Irons laid claim to the title following the elimination of title contender Joel Parkinson (AUS) in the third round of the Nova Schin Festival 2004 at Imbituba.

Parkinson’s elimination catapaulted Irons to an “untouchable” position due to his massive ratings.

Irons began the day by avenging his round one loss to local wildcard Raphael Becker (BRA), posting a 9.1 score for a critical backhand re-entry and huge airdrop floater to advance.

Having won WCT events this year in South Africa and more recently France, combined with two runner-ups and another three semifinal berths, Irons’ incredible consistency paid huge dividends today. Only the third male surfer to win three consecutive ASP world titles, he joins an illustrious group including four-time winner Mark Richards (AUS) and six-time champion Kelly Slater (FL, USA).

“This is so different than last year,” said Irons once the media onslaught began. “Going into the final of Pipeline against Kelly was the full showdown, but this year in Brazil, I just had to watch ‘Parko,’ and thought for sure he was going to make that heat. This is beyond any dream. I never thought I’d get three world titles. I was so stoked just getting one, and if my career had ended that day I would have been totally fine with it. This year I just had the best year ever, really.”

For Parkinson, the prospects of overtaking Irons for this year’s crown remained a serious long shot, but the determined 23-year-old went down fighting. He picked off some good waves against Tanio Barreto, but made a couple of costly mistakes and lacked the scores his opponent was able to post, the Australian finishing short 8.46 points.