Surfing’s Mick Fanning retires
THREE-TIME surfing world champion Mick Fanning has announced he will retire from the World Surfing League (WSL) Championship Tour (CT), bringing an end to his 16-year surfing career in which he won more than 22 championship tour events.
Hailed one of the greatest surfers in history, Fanning made headlines when a great white shark surfaced next to him in the finals of the J-Bay Open in 2015.
He will surf the first two events of this year’s Championship Tour season, the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast and the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach, and then retire from competitive surfing.
“I feel like I’ve just lost the drive to compete day in and day out now. It’s been something I’ve been doing for 17 years. I feel that I just can’t give it 100% any more.
“I’m just not enjoying it as much as I was in the past. I still love surfing, and I’m still super excited by it, but I feel that there are other paths for me to take at this stage in my life,” he said.
Fanning joined the WSL in 2002 after winning his first CT event as a wildcard entry at the 2001 Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach. The win confirmed him as a major threat to surfing’s elite and put his name on the map.
In 2002, his first year on tour, he won at Jeffreys Bay – an event that became one of his favourite tournaments.
“After so many years on tour, it’s been so fun. It’s been a roller-coaster, for sure. You have your peaks and valleys, but you know, when I look back on my time on tour it’s amazing memories – from building myself up to compete, to heat wins and event wins, celebrating with friends and seeing places I never thought I’d even get to.”
While he retires from fulltime competitive surfing, he will continue to work with the WSL in an ambassadorial role, supporting the league’s ocean health platform Pure, surfing development and various other projects. – Staff Writer