13-Year-Old Stabbed In The Back By Fin At European Pipeline

Trigger warning: there are some images below that are not for the faint of heart.

Alejo Valido is one of the most promising up-and-coming groms from Europe.

Raised amongst the heavy rock slabs of the Canary Islands and taken under wing by his Old Continent elders, we were introduced to Alejo last year by Leonardo Fioravanti. His surfing did not disappoint.

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A post shared by Alejo Valido (@alejovalido)

The rest of the world met Alejo last night, under very different circumstances, as he took to Instagram to post about the injuries he sustained last week surfing El Quemao — the European Pipeline, and one of the heaviest waves in the Atlantic — when his Futures Christian Bradley fin stabbed him straight in the sacrum, broke off of the base, and remained stuck almost at the base of his young spine.

“I had an accident surfing El Quemao, luckily the surgery went very well and I’m already walking,” Alejo posted to Instagram.

Following the injury, Alejo was brought to Jose Molina Orosa Hosptial in Lanzarote, before being flown to Gran Canaria the next day, where surgeons at Materno de Gran Canaria were able to successfully operate on him.

“Thank you to those who were at the foot of the beach, to the ambulance staff that moved me, to the Jose Molina Orosa Hospital, to the medical plane, to the team that operated on me at the Materno de Gran Canaria, and to the staff of the pediatric surgery department,” Alejo wrote.

The injury seemed brutal, but we’re thrilled to hear that Alejo will make a full recovery.

“In a couple months, I hope to be at war again,” he conlcuded.

Go get ’em, kid.