Julian is mounting a comeback campaign, and his surfing is up to par. Photo: YouTube//Screenshot
Julian Wilson recently announced that he would be returning to competitive surfing.
It’s been a minute since he’s been judged by a panel for riding waves. He hung up the jersey in 2021 for a variety of reasons, but he made sure to state that a return could be in the cards.
“By no means am I calling it a retirement from professional surfing and the decision I have made is in line with what I value most in my life and that is my family,” he wrote at the time.
Now, however, after a few years of being at home and getting his business off the ground, his competitive fire has been re-stoked.
“The past six months I’ve had competing firmly at the forefront of my mind,” he explained. “It’s time for me to give it another crack. My hope is to get a WSL wildcard for the 2025 Challenger Series.”
One might assume that Wilson could be a little rusty after a few years of not surfing constantly. Obviously, he didn’t stop surfing altogether, but it’s safe to assume that the frequency dropped pretty drastically. With the quick vid below, however, Wilson proves that he’s still got what it takes to hang with the best. He’s riding the JS Xero Gravity in HYFI 3.0, which, if we’re judging by this edit alone, seems like it’s a surfboard made specifically with his style of surfing.
