Finishing runner-up for the 2023 world title one month after breaking his back, an injury-free Ethan Ewing is excited to have another crack at the World Surf League Finals.
The 26-year-old joins fellow Australians Jack Robinson and Molly Picklum in the elite five-surfer fields to decide the men's and women's world crown.
The window for the one-day winner-take-all contest opens on September 7 (Saturday AEST) at Lower Trestles in southern California.
The format sees the fifth-ranked surfer up against fourth in a knockout heat for the right to face the No.3, the field whittling down before a best-of-three showdown with the top seed to decide the title.
In the men's event that's Hawaii's two-time world champion John John Florence, while in the women's Californian teenager Caitlin Simmers is in the box seat to win her first world title.
Ewing is ranked fourth, a spot behind Olympic silver medallist Robinson while Picklum is also No.4.
Last year Ewing entered the contest ranked third and downed Brazil's Joao Chianca and then local hope Griffin Colapinto to move into the deciding round where he lost to reigning champion, Brazil's Filipe Toledo.
Suffering multiple vertebrae fractures in a Tahiti wipe-out in August, Ewing said he entered the Finals last year in a cloud of uncertainty over whether his back would hold up or affect his performance.
"Last year I didn't have much time to prepare, I was pretty sore and stiff and didn't really have surf fitness because I was out of the water for that time," the Queenslander told AAP.
"This year I've been competing all year and am feeling really good.
"I feel really excited ... at the start of the season, I was kind of struggling mentally, and I feel like I've gotten better throughout the year and I'm just in a really good headspace right now."
Australia's last male world champion, Mick Fanning, who won his third title in 2013, will again be in Ewing's corner along with his father Bill Ewing and former CT surfer Bede Durbridge.
Ewing's mother Helen was a former professional surfer, winning the Bells Beach Pro before she died of breast cancer when he was six.
"Mick's back in my corner again and he's always got really good advice and had so much experience so I'm definitely leaning on him," said Ewing, who doesn't have a full-time coach.
"I just like to surround myself with people who have gone through it in the past.
"I went surfing with him this morning and it's insane, he's still at such a high level so he's a really, really good person to have in my corner."
Ewing feels the Californian break suits his surfing and fancies his chances with no Toledo in the mix, with the Brazilian taking the year off for his mental health.
"I really like surfing the wave and I'd say it fits my surfing pretty well.
"It's a pretty high-performance wave, and everyone's really good at this level, so it kind of suits everyone but I really enjoy it.
"I just need to put on a better performance than last year and try and go one better."
WSL FINALS FIVE
* Men: John John Florence, Griffin Colapinto, Jack Robinson, Ethan Ewing, Italo Ferreira.
* Women: Caitlin Simmers, Caroline Marks, Brisa Hennessy, Molly Picklum, Tatiana Weston-Webb.
