“I hit the reef really hard the other morning, breaking bones in my lower back,” No. 2 Ethan Ewing said on Instagram about the injury that sidelined him from the Tahiti Pro two days ago.

“The wipeout was a huge shock and I’m devastated that I pulled out of the Tahiti Pro, but I’m also grateful that it wasn’t a more serious injury,” explained the Australian who shared his post with the video of the wave closing with him inside, small by Teahupoo standards, but quite violent, which sent him straight to the reef.

“So many people helped me that day, and I especially want to give a huge thank you to Tahurai Henry for getting me out of the impact zone and safely to the beach. I also want to thank the Vairao firefighters for transporting me and the hospital staff for their care and professionalism,” Ewing concluded.

The Australian has already qualified for the finals and Paris 2024.

His diagnosis was that he fractured his L3 and L4 vertebrae and that therefore it is possible that he will miss the finals since an injury of this nature takes between six weeks to three months to recover if there is no surgery.

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A post shared by EE (@ethan_ewing)