Australian · Brisbane, Queensland, Australia · Born 23 February 1983Australian surfer who finished runner-up in the 2008 World Tour standings behind Kelly Slater and survived a near-fatal pelvis injury at Pipeline to continue competing.
Born in Brisbane, Queensland, on 23 February 1983 and raised at Point Lookout on North Stradbroke Island, Bede Durbidge joined the World Championship Tour in 2005 after four years grinding the World Qualifying Series. He caused a sensation in his second season, beating seven-time champion Kelly Slater to win the Boost Mobile Pro at Trestles using only five waves. Durbidge's finest season came in 2008, when he finished runner-up on the ASP World Tour behind Slater, having previously been dropped by his major sponsor at the start of 2007 and mortgaging his home to fund his own campaign that year, still finishing fifth in the world. He won the Billabong Pipeline Masters and the Triple Crown of Surfing that year, becoming the first Australian to do so, and reached third in the world in 2009. In 2015, Durbidge suffered a violent wipeout at the Pipe Masters that broke his pelvis, an injury serious enough to threaten his life, let alone his career. He returned to competition in 2016 and remained on tour, ranked as high as 20th, before announcing his retirement to take up a role as Australia's Olympic surfing coach ahead of the sport's Tokyo 2020 debut. Durbidge retired from the Championship Tour after the 2018 season, closing out a 13-year career, and has continued to work in a coaching capacity within Australian surfing.
Finishing runner-up on the 2008 World Tour and surviving a near-fatal pelvis injury at Pipeline
How They Played
Powerful, all-round surfer strong in heavy waves and aerial sections
Lasting Impact
One of Australia's most resilient modern professionals, later the country's Olympic surfing coach
Australian Athletes