Following Mick Fanning’s near death encounter with a shark during a heat at Jeffrey’s Bay in South Africa, the commissioner of the surf league decided to cancel the remainder of the competition.
The safety of our athletes is a priority &, after discussions with both Finalists, we will cancel the remainder of #JBayOpen competition.
— World Surf League (@wsl) July 19, 2015
In an interview on the boat, Fanning gave a synopsis of what took place, saying the shark got entangled in his leg rope as Fanning was moving in on a wave. Fellow surfer Julian Wilson was also in the water at the time, but also resorted to safety via jet skis and a boat.
In last year’s J-Bay Open, Mick Fanning out-dueled fellow Aussie, Joel Parkinson, in the finals and walked away champion by 3.40 points.
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*Featured Photo (above) credit to USA TODAY Sports
