Rising surfer Annette Gonzalez-Etxabarri will have to remain away from competition for multiple months after an emergency surgery.
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The Zumaia (Spain) native announced the news with a post on social media. She did not fully detail the extent of the procedure, but she showed herself in a hospital bed with her left leg heavily bandaged.
"2026 is been very intense! It's challenging me," González-Etxabarri wrote on Instagram. "I will be honest, the day after landing from Australia, the diagnosis the orthopedist broke my heart, it was a shock, the injury was severe and required emergency surgery.
"Honestly, I recovered mentally the next day. I had complete confidence on them, and today I had surgery at the (Hospital MiKS). Everything went well; they were incredibly dedicated to my injury, and I couldn't be more grateful to the entire team.
"I love competing, but I also love my family, my friends, and my hometown Zumaia, so my goal will remain the same in this new challenge: to live, enjoy, learn, improve myself, and give it my all every day of my recovery."
This surgery comes in the wake of multiple professional surfing events featuring Gonzalez-Etxabarri and her older sister, Janire. This includes a competition in February and March 2025 when Janire finished first and her younger sister finished third.
The emergency procedure will certainly sideline Gonzalez-Etxabarri for some time, but she will still have an opportunity to pursue an important goal upon her full recovery. She has the desire to join Janire at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028.
"When I saw Janire at the Olympics (in Paris), the only thing that came to mind was being in Los Angeles," González-Etxabarri told Olympics.com after the ISA World Surfing Games in El Salvador in October 2025. "I want to be with her at the next Olympics."
