Video: Mick Fanning attacked by shark on live TV

Sportal

•
Video: Mick Fanning attacked by shark on live TV image

The Australian has stared down the world's best surfers and won but walking away from Sunday's showdown in the J-Bay Open might be his biggest victory yet.

The defending J-Bay Open champion was just into the event's final in South Africa when the incident happened:

The shark — officials later called it a great white and that there were two — knocked him off his board and into the water.

His leash was separated from his board but he was unharmed and he swam away before rescue boats scooped him out of the water.

"I was just sitting there and I felt something just get stuck in my leg rope, and I was kicking trying to get it away," Fanning said after being pulled to safety.

"I just saw fins. I was waiting for the teeth to come at me. I punched it in the back."

The final at Jeffreys Bay first was called off for the day and later World Surf League officials canceled the final altogether.

"I think he's still processing it, we all are," World Surf League commissioner Kieren Perrow said afterward. "It's shaken everyone. We're just so happy to see him safe and alive. That could have been a really terrible outcome, just dramatic footage obviously and really a scary situation for Mick. He'll need some time just to be able to recover from that. Julian as well. Everyone's shaken."

Wilson was emotional talking about the attack on Fanning.

Perrow said it was the only time a surfer had been attacked in competition as far as he knew.

Visibly shaken after the incident, Fanning said in an interview on the World Surf League site that he was OK, but "totally tripping out."

"I just want to let all my friends and family know I'm OK," he said wiping back tears before getting a huge hug from 11-time world champion Kelly Slater.

Here's the video from the attack to Fanning and Wilson safely getting out of the water.

Sportal

Sportal Photo