WILSON Julian

Preferred stance
Regular (worldsurfleague.com, 20 Dec 2019)

General
SHARK ENCOUNTER
In the final of the J-Bay Open in Jeffreys Bay, South Africa in July 2015, his close friend and fellow Australian surfer Mick Fanning was nearly bitten by a great white shark. Wilson was in the water at the time and rushed to Fanning's aid. Both escaped uninjured, after Fanning punched the shark and used his board as a shield. The competition was subsequently cancelled. "I saw him [Fanning] get knocked off his board, and then a wave popped up and I thought, 'He's gone; he's gone under'. I felt like I couldn't get there quick enough. I was like, 'I've got a board - if I get there I can stab it'. And then [Mick] started screaming. And I remembered that the boats were there and we both started screaming. I was paddling for him." (menshealth.com.au, 11 Apr 2019; nowtolove.com.au, 20 Jul 2015)

INSPIRED BY WIFE
During rehab from his shoulder injury in early 2018, his daughter, Olivia, was born four weeks early. With just days until the first surfing competition of the season, he continued his rehab on the floor of the maternity ward after being inspired by the experience his wife, Ashley, had been through. "I was there with her when she was giving birth and after seeing her go through that experience I was like, 'Well, I can suck it up and just see how things go. Yeah, I'm not 100%. And yeah, the shoulder's painful and stuff. But it's good enough to have a go'." (menshealth.com.au, 11 Apr 2019)

DEALING WITH FAMILY ADVERSITY
In 2014 he found out that his mother and father had been diagnosed with breast and prostate cancer, respectively. The news about his father, which arose early in the year, affected his surfing form and almost resulted in him losing his spot on the World Tour, but he was able to secure his position in the final competition of the season. "I struggled that year [2014]. As the year unfolded, my head was at home. I was struggling to prioritise what I was doing, and maybe feeling a little selfish. I had a rubbish year, I was no good to anybody. It all came together on the very last wave of that year. I won the Triple Crown on that wave and I won the Pipe Masters - and there was about a minute-and-a-half left in the final. That was the biggest win of my career." (menshealth.com.au, 11 Apr 2019)

SUSHI ROLL
In 2007 he invented his own move called the sushi roll, which is described as a mixture between a backside rodeo and a superman. (redbull.com, 30 Oct 2015)