The remarkable comeback from a health battle that almost cost surfing prodigy Tyler Wright it all

Aussie Tyler Wright’s comeback from a health battle that had her ‘shattered’ and contemplating retirement is one of remarkable stature, as the surfer reveals that years on she’s ‘still putting it all together.’

TEAHUPO'O, FRENCH POLYNESIA - AUGUST 01: Tyler Wright of Team Australia rides a wave during round three of women's surfing on day six of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 on August 01, 2024 in Teahupo'o, French Polynesia. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)

Tyler Wright once questioned whether she would live. Another time she considered retiring from surfing.

Instead the Australian and two-time world champion is in Fiji chasing a 14th world tour victory and her first at the Fiji Pro, set to be held at Cloudbreak from August 20.

It comes following the 30-year-old’s quarter-final finish at the Paris Olympic Games at Teahupo’o in the French Polynesian island of Tahiti at the start of August.

Once a surfing prodigy who at 16-years-old became the youngest surfer to ever qualify for the world tour, Wright conceded she wasn’t prepared for the weight of expectation from outside sources wanting to win a world title she had no interest in at the time.

Tyler Wright has head straight to the Fiji Pro after the Olympics. Picture: Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images

Fast forward to 2016 and Wright, then 22, made it her singular focus to become the world titleholder and she did it before backing up to do it again in 2017.

The Newcastle resident was without fear. That all changed in 2018 when she suffered post-viral syndrome on the back of getting influenza A.

“When it comes to resilience, and I’m still putting it all together, post-viral I changed a lot,” Wright said.

“It’s the first time I’d ever stopped. It was an involuntary stop. At that time I had a lot of fears. I didn’t really experience fear before, to the extent that I did during that period.

“Honestly (those fears were) whether I would live, what sort of quality of life I would have.

“Because the virus got to my brain I had a lot of neurological issues as well.

“That was the first time I kind of experienced something was out of my control that I kind of had to surrender to and let it go. I had to let go of what my life once was.

“I had severe PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). Any food I touched, any new environment, any pillow, any room, any mould, any dust or a loud car drives past. It’s like your threat analysis. It would set the whole system off. You can imagine the adrenaline, the cortisol that I’m just chewing through.

“It hasn’t been a straight road. I’ve had multiple meltdowns. I’m worried about if I’m doing the wrong thing, I’m worried about if I’m doing the right thing, whether I should retire.

“After so long out as an athlete I had dropped 18kg, your mentality is shattered. Everything that you once were is gone.

“So you can sit there, and Covid happens between all this, and you make a choice. I can pursue a different career or I can get back and become an athlete that I respect and that my younger self would love and look up to. That is what I decided.”

Wright said getting surgery on her face to implant a device in her mouth to make the roof of the mouth wider to improve her breathing after the 2023 season had helped her move past the PTSD.

Tyler Wright has battled through health issues over the past few years. Picture: Matt Dunbar/World Surf League via Getty Images

It’s been years since Wright had an uninterrupted season on the world tour.

Wright is ranked 10th going into the final event of the tour and won’t make the final five who will compete at finals.

But the Aussie said 2024 marked a moment in time where she felt ready for what was ahead and valued effort over everything else in the sport.

“I’m very grateful for the opportunity where I get to actually produce something that I’m super proud of, not that I’m not proud of everything else that I’ve achieved,” Wright said.

“I just feel like I really understand the whole process and the whole journey now. I see it with a different lens. It’s actually allowed me a lot more compassion and empathy. I don’t judge as hard.

“There’s not too much attached to it other than just pure joy. I feel like I’ve been through enough now to not really measure myself against a win or a loss. I get worried for the young ones when I see them doing that.”

Originally published as The remarkable comeback from a health battle that almost cost surfing prodigy Tyler Wright it all