One of the first to bring unabashed training, discipline, ultra-focus, even meditation to every event. SNN.
Fanning at the 2017 Corona Open J-Bay, doing his customary pre-heat prep.WSL / STEVE SHERMAN
“I feel like I’ve lost the drive to compete day in, day out now,” Fanning said. “It’s something I’ve been doing for 17 years, and even before that through the Qualifying Series and Juniors, and I feel that I can’t give it 100 percent anymore. 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’s there are other paths for me to take at this stage in my life.
“As for choosing to retire at Bells, I’ve always had it in mind that my last event on Tour was going to be there. That’s basically where I started my career, it was where I got my first ever CT win and I feel really connected down there.”
Mick first joined the CT in 2002, after winning his first CT event as a wildcard entry at the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach. It was a win that pushed him up into the elite levels of surfing, and that put his name on the map as a man who was going to make history.
In 2003, his first year on Tour, he won at Jeffreys Bay — a wave that went on to become one of his pet events — as well as one of the most pivotal moments in his career, and life, when he was attacked by a shark during the Final heat of the event in 2015.
In 2004, after two years of being on the World Tour, Mick sustained a career-threatening injury while surfing in the Mentawais, tearing his hamstring off the bone and putting him out of the water for months. But rather than give up, Mick took this injury and used it as motivation to come back even stronger. He was back competing on the Tour by 2005, and just three years later won his first World Title.
Over the course of his career, Mick has been through more than most of us could imagine. He’s seen both personal triumph and personal tragedy under the scrutiny of the public eye worked through injuries that would have ended others’ careers, and punched a shark on live television, coming out completely physically unscathed.
Throughout all of that, he has won 3x World Championship Titles, 22x World Tour events, and completed 16 career tours.
“After so many years on tour, it’s been so fun,” says Mick. “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 just seeing places I never thought I’d even get to.”
Congratulations Mick, we couldn’t be more proud of you and everything that you’ve achieved — and we can’t wait to see what’s next. WSL
