Tyler Wright Out Of World Title Race With Torn MCL

There will be no world title defense for Tyler Wright. Currently sitting at world number three, a mere four hundred points out of first, the 2016 world champ has announced that due to a torn MCL she’s been forced to withdraw for the rest of the ’17 season.

“No ripping on the dance floor for me anytime soon haha. Tore 70% of my MCL off the bone two days before the start of the women’s event in Cascais, thank you to @chrisprosser and the @wsl medical team and my team for being on point, doing everything I can in rehab and all while having hella good times in Portugal,” posted Wright on Instagram over the weekend.

With Sally Fitzgibbons and Courtney Conlogue ahead of her in the rankings, it appears it’s to be a two-woman title race now. Conlogue bowed out of the Cascais Women’s Pro in Round 4 (thanks to a surging Sage Erickson), while Fitzgibbons is already into the quarterfinals. Sage and Steph Gilmore are also both in the world title conversation but sitting a bit further back in the points, and Steph’s already been knocked out of the Portugal comp.

For the Wright family, Tyler’s injury is just another challenge to bounce back from. In 2016, younger brother Mikey Wright took himself out of the game after an air-gone-wrong blew out his ankle. And more famously, in 2015, older brother Owen suffered a near career-ending wipeout at Pipeline that resulted in a serious brain injury. Tyler almost walked away from the tour the following year to look after Owen but decided to go all in—which resulted in a world title. 

If another twist of fate was needed, now Owen finds himself embroiled in a world title race of his own. Currently sitting fifth on the Jeep Leaderboard, with three events left this year he’ll have to surf towards near-perfection, but no doubt his little sis with a lot of cheer and no pom poms.