We are right on the cusp of the competition window for the 2023 Rip Curl WSL Finals. Ethan Ewing will be surfing, which the world had figured out in the past couple of weeks even without much detail about the Australian surfer’s broken back suffered in a free surf at Teahupo’o. But as recently as this week he admitted that appearing in a showdown for the world title was, in fact, in doubt when the injury first happened.
“When I first did it, I thought I wasn’t going to be surfing for a long time,” Ewing said. “I knew there was something wrong with my back because I slammed it really hard on the reef. It was a big area, so I didn’t know exactly where it was sore. I got some scans, and there were some fractures, but it wasn’t too bad. No risk to the spinal cord. I was very lucky.”
He’s been seen at Lowers throughout the week in freesurfs and in Thursday’s Rip Curl WSL Finals Practice Session broadcast on The Couch Surfing Show. Lowers obviously isn’t the most intense wave on the planet but you can’t help but notice Ewing looks like he’s running about half-speed in those freesurfs and the practice session — most likely an intentional choice to play it safe and minimize any risk before he faces off against the winner of João Chianca’s and Jack Robinson’s opening heat. But then again, it’s not like any competitor is going to empty the tank at Lowers a moment before it actually counts.
“Looks loose,” Kaipo Guerrero said on the broadcast.
“Double-E, at 80 percent, 60 percent probably, he just looks so good on rail,” Strider Wasilewski added.
Tough to disagree with that.
