Griffin Colapinto’s Perfect 10: “Best Air Ever?” (Video)

The maneuver came in the first quarterfinal matchup for the men’s, in which Colapinto squared up against Italy’s Leonardo Fioravanti. The Italian Stallion locked in a 9.00 from a successful crack at the dreaded end section, leaving Colapinto needing a 9.40. And he answered back with the massive air, garnering him a perfect score – also, finally earning that 10 after many believed he should have during his bucking bronco foamball mindbender the other day across the channel at the box.

For Colapinto, he was just as astounded as everyone else: "The 10 was one of the most incredible moments of my life," he said. "When I landed it, I landed, and then it took me a while to realize that this was like real life. I was like, 'I'm on my board, okay.' I was just tripping. After [Leonardo Fioravanti] got his 9, I was kind of going, 'Okay, I need two waves.' I thought in my head, it's going to be a hard fight back, and then, yeah, I recognized that the ones that were breaking deep were probably better for air sections because you can get the slingshot, and then that wave was just perfect for it. But yeah, when I paddled back out, I was like, wow, there's still a lot of time left, and Leo only needs a 7, and I was like, okay, I got to forget about that, but it was really hard. And then no waves really came for Leo at the end, so Mother Nature hooked me up on that one."

But…best air ever in competition? Just off the top of the dome…Kelly Slater’s rotator in New York, Filipe Toledo’s backside hangtime in Brazil, John John Florence’s alley oop in Bali – just to name a few.

Still, impressive nonetheless.