Tim Elter’s bloodied face caused a moment of shock. The Olympic surfer had a serious accident in the waves of Fuerteventura. In the BR24Sport exclusive interview, he makes a clear appeal to all surfers to wear helmets.
The pictures on Instagram get under your skin: Tim Elter’s face is covered in blood, there is a gash on the 21-year-old’s head. The professional surfer, in the summer Proud representative of Germany at the 2024 Olympic Games in Tahitiexperienced on Tuesday what a surfer doesn’t want to experience: a violent wipeout (violent fall, editor’s note.). It was “the worst accident that has ever happened to me in surfing,” explains Elter three days later in an exclusive BR24Sport interview.
Surfing helmet probably prevents worse injuries
Eight stitches and a broken tooth are the result of his fall in the brutal waves of Fuerteventura. “It wasn’t that bad – no deeper injuries, no fractures,” Elter initially tried to downplay his concerns about himself. But at the same time he also knows: “The helmet definitely helped that the cut (on the forehead, editor’s note) didn’t go any further.”
The weather this Tuesday was extremely challenging. Elter, who grew up on the Canary Islands and has known the waves since he was a child, also had an uneasy feeling when he saw the waves. He actually loves these conditions when the wave forms a tube and he can slide through the eye of this force of nature.
Thoughts underwater: “Stay awake, Tim!”
But this time Elter and his friends had respect for the meter-high monsters: “We weren’t all that self-confident.” In addition to the water masses, which were difficult to assess, the winter sun was also a problem, as it was low that afternoon and shone through the waves in such a way that visibility was severely impaired.
“Then a mass of water fell on top of me in the tube. I didn’t see it coming, then it threw me and pretty quickly hit my face into the reef.” Luckily, Parent doesn’t faint, “because then you have a completely different problem when you’re unconscious.” His friends can pull him out of the waves and bring him to the beach. “The most important thing for me was that I said to myself: ‘Stay awake, Tim!’
Parent surfs in Tahiti with a helmet
If his parent isn’t battling the winter waves on Fuerteventura, he doesn’t always wear a helmet in the water, for example when the sea isn’t that harsh. “When the waves get bigger, everything becomes more violent and unpredictable. Waves like those in Tahiti.” There, Elter wore a helmet both in training and in competitions – as one of very few men.
Other Olympic surfers without helmets: “Confusing”
During training, “half of all Olympians wore a helmet and that was so good to see for this sport. (…) But then in the competition it was only a fraction again. I found that confusing again.” For Elter it is clear: the professionals should set a good example, because wearing a helmet has not yet been an issue for recreational surfers.
“Danger is always there”: Elter’s appeal to wear helmets
From Elter’s point of view, this is fatal: “The average person who goes to the Atlantic for a week for a surf camp can also get a concussion. Because the danger is always there.” What also “very shocks” the German runner-up in 2024 is the risk involved in supposedly harmless “city surfing”, for example on the Eisbachwelle in Munich.
In the video: BR24Sport interview with Tim Elter
Head injuries in Eisbachwelle and Wavepool?
“I didn’t wear a helmet because I thought, ‘Hey, it’s a standing wave, any average person can do it.’ “I was injured twice and suffered brain trauma twice,” said Elter, describing his experiences: “I’m very surprised that a helmet is not mandatory in such facilities.” His Olympic colleague Camilla Kemp has also suffered a concussion in a wave pool (an artificial running wave).
Tim Elter learns something new with every session, be it in the sea or in an artificial wave. There has already been a “switch” in the professional surfing scene when it comes to wearing a helmet, explained Elter: “You can only sensitize people as much as possible about the issue of helmets and show them: This can happen.” So perhaps Elter’s severe wipeout on his own doorstep also has a bright side.
Source: BR24Sport January 10, 2025 – 12:54 p.m
