HONOLULU - (Thursday, Dec. 16, 2010) -- Jeremy Flores (FRA), 22, defeated 10-time ASP World Surfing Champion Kelly Slater on his way to winning the world's most prestigious and longest running professional surfing event: the Billabong Pipe Masters, In Memory of Andy Irons. Flores is the first European surfer in the 40-year history of this event to write his name in the champion's honor roll.


This was the first major win of his six-year career and his largest pay check - $75,000. He was also personally presented with a handmade Gerry Lopez surfboard by the legendary Pipe Master himself and ended the year ranked 9th in the world. "It's such a dream," said Flores, who was the youngest surfer in history to qualify for the ASP World Tour in 2007, at age 18.