Joel Parkinson, along with Mick Fanning and Dean Morrison is one third of the Coolie Kids. They all came out of the Goldcoast at a time when competitive surfing was dominated by The USA, specifically Kelly Slater and his fellow Momentum Generation surfers. But the three of them put a dent in this domination.
Parkinson won a world junior title before going the tour, he then put in a series of solid years finishing consistently in the top five, always a title contender but never quite putting a run together to take the crown. It seemed by the end of the naughties he wasn’t going to do it as a new age of surfer was coming through.
However, after a serious foot injury in 2010 when he was seemingly on his way to that crown, he came back in 2011 to finish second and then, finally in 2012 he took the world title back to the Goldie. A solid all round power surfer with a good aerial game, he’ll be in contention for a few years to come yet.