Joel Parkinson (AUS), 28, current ASP world No. 2, has had a rollercoaster season in 2009. What looked like a sure thing in terms of attaining his maiden ASP World Title has turned into the fight of his life following a training injury and the freight-train run of Gold Coast stablemate Mick Fanning (AUS), 28, in the back half of the season. With everything on the line heading into the Vans Triple Crown, Sean Doherty of JoelParko.com caught up with the phenomenal natural-footer to see where his head was at. This...is their story...


This is going to be a huge Hawaiian season. There’s a lot on the line for you?
JP: There is for sure. I guess… I dunno, I’ve been thinking about it and I’m just so excited to go surfing again more than anything. That’s all I’ve been thinking about, I just want to get there and surf some good waves because we haven’t had many lately. Haleiwa and Sunset are such good warm-ups to get you in a rhythm over there. I’m obviously focused pretty squarely on Pipe, but I’d love to win the Triple Crown again, especially with the extra prizemoney. It’s typical, the year I win it I get a watch, and then it goes up to 50 grand the next year!

How’s your ankle? The last few weeks it’s felt really good. I kind of got over that stiff injury phase, now I’m getting flexibility back in it, so it allows me to do a lot more on it. When I get home from Hawaii I’m going to have another round of MRIs to find out if it’s 100 percent. I’ve got one little test to do to find out how much movement I have between my tib and my fib, and if it has a lot of movement I’ll probably have to get a screw in it, but if it doesn’t then I should be right.

Did you consider not doing Haleiwa and Sunset and just going over for Pipe?Only if my ankle wasn’t good. I mean, it was still...For full interview, check out joelparko.com