Australia’s two-time world champion surfer Tyler Wright went to drastic lengths during the off-season to put her in the best possible position to win Olympic gold later this year, undergoing a “life-changing” procedure that saw seven screws inserted into her head.
After reaching her first World Surf League quarter-final this year in Portugal, Wright revealed she has suffered from a respiratory issue throughout her surfing career due to narrow airways that have left her struggling for oxygen.
The 29-year-old – one of four surfers who will represent Australia at the 2024 Olympics – sought specialist advice at the end of last season and was told a procedure to fit a maxillary palatal expander – a device to widen the upper jaw and increase airflow – was imperative before she resumed any competition.
“I’ve had a fair few doctors and specialists tell me they don’t know how I do what I do,” Wright said. “I shouldn’t be able to do what I do, according to my brain scans and my anatomy. It’s really unusual that I am a professional surfer.
“Through one of the specialists we ended up finding that most of the time I’m under-oxygenated and I’m semi-suffocating all the time through my nose, and my airways are really small.”
The procedure has left Wright in good shape, as she targets a third world title on the WSL Championship Tour and Olympic gold at the tournament to be held in Tahiti.
“Honestly it’s been life-changing, it’s the sanest I’ve ever felt,” she said.
“I’ve got seven screws in my head, between 9mm and 17mm [in length] and in the off-season I expanded it. Essentially it popped the bone and I got 7mm [of extra airway space] through that.
“I made an inefficient system efficient. Now I’ve got an efficient system I wake up every day and I feel great. But I’ve got to train a new system. 13 years in, it’s perplexing and does my head in a little bit. But I’m working it through, and I’ve got great support and great doctors to explain everything.
“It’s been really successful and it’s changing my life, but it’s also a process and I’m only step one and a half of a multi-step process.”
Wright has suffered from a number of health issues during her career. After winning world titles in 2016 and 2017, she missed 14 months of competition due to a post-viral syndrome that left her with “brain fog” and chronic fatigue, and before last year’s final WSL event she spent three days in hospital due to debilitating period pain.
“I’m healing my nervous system,” she said on Monday.
“I’m sleeping for the first time in 15 years. I’ve had to get help to understand this season. I feel different going out and competing this season.”
Wright faces Hawaiian Gabriela Bryan in the quarter-finals of this week’s Rip Curl Pro at Supertubos as she seeks her first event victory of the season. She will be joined by Molly Picklum, Ethan Ewing and Jack Robinson at the Olympic surf competition, which starts on 27 July.
