“These surfers inspire me so much. This is what I was born to do.” Julian Wilson summed up what he hoped would be a sustained, elite competitive comeback after he went from the Trials to CT Finalist on the Gold Coast Pro at Burleigh.

The former World No. 2 had quit the tour in 2021, citing issues traveling during the pandemic and wanting more time with his two young children. Yet even then, he forewarned it might not be forever. “By no means am I calling it a retirement from professional surfing and the decision I have made is in line with what I value most in my life and that is my family,” he said in his original announcement.

Yet by the start of last year with Wilson having launched his clothing brand Rivvia and become almost 100% follically challenged, it looked like his retirement had veered from semi to permanent. Until suddenly he requested and was given a wildcard into the Challenger Series for 2025.

“Freesurfing’s fun, but it’s just not as satisfying as doing it under pressure in a jersey,” he said. At the time, we thought we would have to wait until the first CS event in Newcastle in June to see if he would get the satisfaction he craved. After 10 days and 9 heats going from the Trials to the Final at Burleigh, Wilson proved, emphatically, that he still belongs at this level.

Despite the heroics and the acrobatics, he still has to deliver on the CS, which, with its 100 surfers, 6 events and just 10 places up for grabs, is the most brutal of any surf tour devised. If he comes through that, Julian would start the 2026 CT aged 37. Only Jordy, by 9 months, would be older on the tour. We are piling up the ifs here, but if Julian were to show the form he did this week, he would have to be in the World Title contender conversation. Our question is, where would that place him in the list of great surfing comebacks? Well, he’d have to match, or surpass, this list below.

Tom Curren

Having won two World Titles by the age of 26, Tom Curren quit the tour in 1988 and was living in France with wife and young daughter. However, after riding a 6’9” Reverse Vee shaped by Maurice Cole through the Basque winter, a spark was lit. In 1990 he returned to competition with no seed and had to start each contest by surfing through at least four rounds of Trials heats to reach the Main Event. After winning in Santa Cruz, he never looked back and completed a dominant, historic third World Title. At the time, “The Trials to Title” was unprecedented and described as the best comeback in the sport.

Occy

Occy, famously, spent the better part of a decade away from professional surfing, large chunks of it on the sofa dealing with drug and alcohol addiction and depression. In 1996, nine years after he had bailed from the circuit as an 18-year-old, he hit the QS. Two years late,r he made the CT and finished as the World No.2 behind Kelly Slater . In 1999, he completed one of surfing’s and sport’s, greatest comebacks, when he won the World Title. At 33, he was the oldest to do so in surfing history. He would compete until 2007, and finally retire around the age Julian is now.

Chelsea Hedges (Georgeson)

The 2005 World Champion Hedges took a year off in 2008 following the birth of her first child Meika. The goofyfooter returned in style, winning Best Female Performance at the SURFER Magazine Poll and finishing in the top 10 on the CT rankings. In 2010, she finished as the World No.6, and it was only a series of serious injuries that forced her early retirement in 2011. While she only had a single year off, her comeback to elite sport as a mother hasn’t been celebrated enough.

Kelly Slater

At the end of 1998, having won six World Titles in seven years, Kelly Slater announced he was taking an open-ended break from the tour. Already having achieved GOAT status, and being an ancient (for those times) 29 years old, many surf fans feared they’d seen the end of Slater in a jersey. However, in what couldn’t have been merely a coincidence, Kelly boomeranged back to the tour after a three-year hiatus just as Andy Irons rose to prominence. AI claimed his World three-peat Titles from 2002 to 2004, before Kelly re-established his crown with back-to-back wins in epic battles with Andy in 2005 and 2006. He’d add another three Titles, and eventually retire in 2024.