Winner of the recent O’Neill Mission in Les Landres, France, and the Brothers Neilsen Pro on the Gold Coast, 19 year-old Julian Wilson has the world's best surfers looking nervously over their shoulders.

In 2007, Wilson made his competitors sit up and take notice, when he won the SURFER poll award for Performance of the Year. In 2008, the pressure was on to live up to expectations. "Winning at Duranbah was just what I needed. It definitely didn’t hurt my confidence!" said Wilson, of his win at the Brothers Neilson Pro Junior earlier this year where he defeated a class field of 128 of the nation’s best under-20 surfers at Duranbah Beach on the Gold Coast. It seems that Wilson is on a roll, leaving fellow surfers drowning in his wake. At the 2008 O'Neill Mission in France, Wilson to produce some outstanding surf action. “I’m so blown away, it was such a good week," said Wilson.

Born to surf

It’s as if Wilson was born to surf and the truth is he just about was, with surfing mad parents who live just across the road from Coolum Beach. “I would have been about three,” he said of his first attempt at surfing. “Pretty much as soon as I got out of a nappy. My mum and dad used to push me into the waves and I have loved it since the first day I tried it.”

Initially, it was all about the love of surfing, but as time went and he continued to improve, it soon became something bigger and he started competing. “But I was getting results along the way, I rode long board and short board and won an Aussie title on long board. I won regional and state titles and stuff like that on the short board. I love free surfing as well, but I have that competitive drive.”

Headed for success

The gifted Queenslander has already got loyal sponsors, including Red Bull, movie deals and, most importantly, the moves on the board that many believe will take this successful junior right to the top of his sport. “I want to be world champ, along with a lot of other people,” he said with a laugh. “I’ll take it as it comes right now and figure out what I need to do to be the best and make the most of what talent I’ve got.”

 

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