Three-time world champion Mick Fanning was just a generation too early to have a chance at representing his country in the Olympics. The Australian surfing legend hung it up in 2018 at 36 years of age, the year before the Championship Tour became an Olympic qualifier.
That said, Fanning has been an astute fan of Olympic surfing. After Tokyo 2020, Fanning said that he shed a tear when he saw his friends earning Olympic medals and that the competition was “amazing to watch.”
So now that surfing’s third Olympic venue has been selected, Fanning shared his thoughts with Olympics.com on Lower Trestles hosting the Games for the 2028.
“Trestles is such a high-performance wave where I feel it suits a lot of different styles of surfing,” said Fanning. “It’s a very playful wave so you can practically do whatever you want on it. It’s the closest thing to a wave pool. A great peak so no one is at a disadvantage and (nine times out of 10), the person surfing the best wins the event.”
Fanning thinks the skatepark walls of Lower Trestles will greatly widen the field of gold medal contenders compared to the last edition at Teahupo’o.
“Every wave is very similar so it levels the playing field a lot,” said Fanning. “Japan is a lucky dip and Tahiti was pure barrels. Trestles is turns and aerials.”
“Teahupo’o is very intimidating where Trestles is not,” he concluded. “The challenge here is calming your excitement and picking the best waves as they are much easier to surf than the mediocre ones.”
Fanning knows what he’s talking about. He took the win at Lower Trestles in 2009 on his way to his second world title. Then he won it again in 2015. The next wave of Olympians might be wise to look to Fanning for advice heading into the Games. Or maybe even see if he is interested in assuming an official coaching role for a national team.
