6 hours Ago By Dan Walsh
Tyler Wright has gone from teen prodigy to surfing’s mother hen on tour. From being fighting fit and two-time world champion, to knocked sideways - then flat on her back - by a string of injuries, illnesses and concussions that had her wondering about long-term consequences. Happy and healthy: WSL tour ‘mother hen’ Tyler Wright.
Credit: Justin McManus She’s also been a passionate LGBTQ+ voice as surfing’s only current openly gay competitor, and the reluctant face of the WSL’s controversial ventures into Abu Dhabi as a result, where homosexuality is illegal. Most importantly though, Wright is back at Bells Beach. And she’s happy.
Surfing well, too, with Wright winning her first round at Bells Beach on Friday. She produced the contest’s most impressive performance, before shifting swells cut day one short and put the event on hold for 48 hours. “Fifteen years in and I’ve had this massive change-up,” she says of the late-2023 operation that inserted seven screws into her head , to ease breathing issues that had left her “semi-suffocating all the time.
” “I put zero expectations on myself now. I’m still working out exactly how that all happens, I’ll get back to you. Tyler Wright in action at Bells.
Credit: Justin McManus “But I just feel a lot more joyful and happier in the water. I just like surfing again. It’s weird to say, but it’s really nice.
“I’m really enjoying competing again, I love the battles out there, I’m loving every aspect of it. Whereas the last few years, it’s been tough to enjoy some big aspects of it. “I had two shocking injuries last year and my body’s changed so much, but things are starting to settle and I feel amazing, it’s the best I’ve felt in 10 years.
I had two big concussions last year. They weren’t fun and you get to a point where..
.” Wright trails off on the impact of those concussions, which were exacerbated by her “life-changing” airwaves widening surgery. The 30-year-old knows better than anyone the impact, and unknowns, that head knocks hold.
Wright watched older brother Owen fight for his career – and eventually walk away from it on medical advice – after a 2015 concussion in Hawaii that left him learning how to walk and surf again. The words left unsaid said enough. So too, the quiet after intense focus on her taking part in February’s inaugural Surf Abu Dhabi Pro, which Wright’s family spoke out on and the tour veteran vacillated over before an eventual ninth-place finish.
Again, she will let that lie for now. But after her breakthrough win at Pipeline to start the season , her first in almost two years, Wright spoke of finding joy in her craft again after being left “a little bit scared to love surfing because I’ve been injured so many times.” From Pipeline to the Middle East and now Victoria’s surf coast, Wright takes inspiration from the next generation led by 19-year-old world champion Caity Simmers, Canadian teen Erin Brooks and fellow Australian Olympian Molly Picklum.
Wright’s last win at Bells came in a 2023 final with Picklum sledging “oh mum’s showing me how it’s done now?” “Mother hen? Probably more crazy aunt,” Wright laughs at the moniker Picklum has given her. “I have a lot of respect for the younger generation and I’ve done the tour at a young age. I care about them and love them.
I love the kids. As someone that’s been here 15 years now, watching them evolve and step up, it gives me a bit of life. “That’s important, to breathe that life into me again.
Every year, it’s different and the sport keeps me constantly entertained. There’s always spanners in the works with it, but that’s part of it. And my support crew is massive.
My wife (Lilli) travels with me everywhere, I’ve got [neuro-orthopaedic rehab specialist] Brett Jarosz – he does all the work on my body. “It’s crazy, all these things about my body I wish I knew when I was 16 but that’s just years on the job right? You’re an apprentice at 16. You don’t have your licence to do anything, so this is all quite joyful now.
Fifteen years in and I’m having a lot of fun again.” Sports news, results and expert commentary. Sign up for our Sport newsletter .
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