Mick Fanning believes it was nothing short of a miracle he escaped unharmed, after being attacked by a shark during the J-Bay Open 2015 final, in South Africa.
When Fanning got knocked off his board by a shark at Jeffreys Bay, he thought of fighting - literally - for his life. At a press conference in Sydney, the Australian revealed what he felt in those death-defying moments.
"To walk away from a shark attack with not a scratch on you, it's a miracle really. Seeing the size of it was the scariest thing. I was swimming away, but then I turned around – I wanted to know if it was coming for me," explained Mick Fanning.
"I wanted to go down fighting, even if it would have been an unfair fight. In our sport, we always think about sharks and we know we are in their domain."
"J-Bay is such a beautiful place; it's one of my top three favourite places on earth! I have so many friends and family there. I've got to go back, even though it's going to be hard, but you have to face it front on. I'll deal with that when I come to it. How many people have surfed J-Bay and nothing has happened? I was lucky and unlucky at the same time."
Mick Fanning said he was trying to deal with the emotions and "get it all out there and process what happened. It will probably take a week or a month, I don't know."
"I might have some words of wisdom down the track but right now is all about processing it all. I've got some really good people that I talk to already, and my family and friends will always be around. I'm lucky to have those people in my life. Bottling it up and trying to avoid it doesn't work for me", concluded Fanning.