Ethan Ewing

It was perhaps the most eventful year of his life when Queensland surfer Ethan Ewing secured the WSL ranking points that ensured his place at the Paris Olympics.

In 2023, Ethan had a sentimental win at Bells Beach, exactly 40 years after his late mother won the event, and received death threats from Brazilian surf fans after a judging controversy, plus broke his back while free surfing in Tahiti.

Ethan’s mother Helen Lambert won the Rip Curl Pro as an 18-year-old back in 1983 and it was an emotional moment when he rang the bell four decades later.

“It’s been my biggest goal in my career to win this,” he said. “All my heroes have won this – Joel [Parkinson], Mick [Fanning], Kelly [Slater], the girls – Steph [Gilmore], Carissa [Moore], and then my mum back in ‘83. It is an honour to compete here. To put my name up there with her – it’s really special.”

A few weeks later, Ethan received death threats after he beat Brazilian Gabriel Medina on a countback in the quarter-finals of the WSL’s Surf Ranch Pro in California. Medina had accused judges of being biased against Brazilians, prompting a flood of threats against Ethan.

Then in August, Ethan fractured two vertebrae when he came unstuck at Teahupo’o while practising for the Tahiti Pro. The injury prompted fears that Ethan, ranked second in the world before his wipeout, would be ruled out of the WSL’s season-ending final five event at Trestles, California.

But three weeks later he was back in the water and managed to finish second at the final, ending 2023 as Australia’s highest-ranked surfer.

Raised on North Stradbroke Island, off the coast of south-east Queensland, Ethan first competed at the Junior World Championships in 2012 and made his debut in the WSL Qualifying Series in 2015. In 2016, at the age of 18, he was crowned world junior champion and came second in the qualifying series, allowing him to step up to the senior tour.

It took him a few years to find his feet at the elite level, before he won his first world tour event at Jeffreys Bay, South Africa, in 2022. That year, he finished fourth at the WSL finals.

After his eventful 2023, Ethan has hung on to a place in the world top 10 in 2024 and, with his back fully recovered, he was thrilled by the opportunity to compete in the Olympic surfing competition.

For Ethan to compete in surfing in the Paris 2024 Olympics, it was held 16,000km away from the city of Paris in the French territory of Tahiti, where he was very familiar with the big and powerful waves at Teahupo’o.

Ethan was unfortunately pitted against fellow countryman Jack Robinson in the quarter-finals, with Ethan scoring 13.00 to Jack's 15.33 and finished Ethan's campaign.