FAMILY TIES TAKE PAIR TO CREST OF THE WAVE
TYLER and Owen Wright have a sibling relationship so strong and powerful it helps heal, scripts fairytales and produces world titles.
After helping nurse her older brother back to health from a brain injury sustained surfing at Pipeline in late 2015, world champion Tyler has revealed the role Owen played in keeping her on track to successfully defend her world title in Hawaii last week.
The 23-year-old tore 70 per cent of her MCL off the bone in a free surfing accident in October that almost derailed her season.
“I was crying because my knee felt like it was going to fall off,” Wright said at Bondi yesterday.
“He was there, he was like: ‘You have this, it will be OK.’ I believed him. He just knows me so well.”
Wright, 23, who was encouraged to stay in surfing by Owen when she contemplated quitting the world tour five years ago, was rewarded for her grit and weeks of painful rehabilitation with her second straight world title at the end of the women’s world tour last week.
But at the start of the season it was Owen hogging the limelight on the world surfing stage. Watched by his sister and members of his family, including baby son Vali, Owen returned from 15 months of recovery from a brain bleed sustained in a horrific wipe-out, to win the Quiksilver Pro opening event of the World Tour on the Gold Coast.