Surfer legend Mick Fanning retires

Surfer legend Mick Fanning retires
By Euronews
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The Australian three-time world champion says he will hang up his jersey after the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach

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Time and Tide wait for no man and the Australian Mick Fanning, says he will be will hanging up his surfboard this month.

Nicknamed the 'White Lightning' he won his first Champions Tour title as a wildcard in 2001 and went on to win three world titles.

He grabbed international headlines for his encounters with two sharks in three years at the J-Bay Open.

In South Africa in 2015, he was dragged off his board on live TV and had to punch a great white to escape.

Another encounter two years later saw him being plucked to safety.

Fanning says he has been surfing for competitively for 17 years and has lost the drive to compete day in, day out.

"I've decided the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach will be my last event as a full-time competitor on the World Surf League Championship Tour," Fanning wrote on Instagram on Wednesday.

"The tour has given me so much but I need a fresh challenge. I still love the game but can't find the motivation and dedication required to compete for world titles anymore.

"I will be competing at the opening event at home on the Gold Coast and then wrapping things up at the Rip Curl Pro.

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