Photo: Instagram
The performances were on point, and John John Florence once again proved his mastery of the famed North Shore break, but not everyone walked away from the barrel barrage at the Volcom Pipe Pro. This past Saturday during a Round 3 heat, 17-year-old Italian Leonardo Fioravanti suffered a brutal wipeout that would see him saved by the Hawaiian Water Patrol and subsequently carted off to the emergency room.
Reports from the hospital following an MRI revealed two broken vertebrae and several torn ligaments in his back. Posted alongside the picture see at top, Fioravanti soon took to Instagram in an effort to update and comfort fans who had seen or heard of the wipeout and subsequent carting off to the emergency room: “Well I’m alive everyone! and luckily no back surgery! Went down on a big one yesterday and tore ligaments in my back and broke 2 vertebrae. Will be wearing a back brace for 4-8 weeks! Thanks the lifeguards at pipe for the help and @cidoubleyou and @dnaeffect for being my ‘parents’ over here haha.”
The Italian shredder spoke rather candidly about the incident with Surfing Life, sharing his own account of the wipeout and what followed with the Australian title.
Surfing Life: Can you walk us through what happened?
Fioravanti: Well, I was in the heat and this pretty good one came, and I realised that I was right on the peak, but I took off anyways, really late, and kind of airdropped into it. My fins didn’t catch the water and I flew back over and I landed straight onto my back on the reef. As soon as it happened I knew it was bad, and I took my leash off straight away, flagged the jetski down and within five minutes I was on a board getting carried up the beach. 10 minutes later the ambulance was there and I was on my way to get a bunch of x-rays at Wahiawa Hospital. They said it didn’t look too bad, but they wanted to send me to Queens Hospital in Honolulu to do MRIs.
This morning at, like, three o’clock the doctor came in and said I didn’t need surgery. He brought a back-brace that I need to wear, and he told me that I broke two vertebrae and tore some ligaments all throughout my back. I’ve had a couple of injuries before, but nothing ever this bad…
How are the pain levels?
Oh, the pain was something I’ve never even come close to. The doctors said I got really lucky, that I hit the rock a bit lower on my spine. They said that if I had hit the rock a bit higher on my back it would have hit the spinal cord and I could have been paralysed.
But luckily I’ll only be in a brace for a month and a half or two months, and then the doctor said that I could probably surf after that, but just for fun, just starting… Then I should do some rehab and I’ll be good in three months or something.
Today he posted yet another update on Instagram: “This is the wave that I got hurt on, I wasn’t deep enough so I tried to wait until the last second to stand up so that I could fall into it and hopefully catch my fins and come out but it didn’t go as I planned out. Got sucked over and slammed straight to the reef on my lower back, at first I got really scared because I couldn’t breathe for the first 5-10 seconds but then it came back, took my leash of and called the jet ski straight away. Luckily in less then 3 minutes I was on the beach ready to get carried up the beach into the ambulance. Thanks to everyone for the messages and the support! I am already in ‘come back’ mode.”
Our thoughts and well-wishes are with Fioravanti on a speedy recovery. We’re hoping that he finds him on his feet, and charging, again soon
Read the entire interview with Leo Fioravanti on Surfing Life.
