The revamped World Surf League calendar has allowed West Australian Jack Robinson to compete at Bells Beach and defend his title without pain for the first time in three years.
Robinson rang the bell on the famous trophy in 2025 for the first time but at the end of year, where he finished as world No. 5, underwent knee surgery.
The 28-year-old suffered the injury competing at Bells in 2023 when he twisted his knee while trying to regain the heat lead against Torquay wildcard Xavier Huxtable, falling off the wave and crashing out of the competition.
He pushed through the pain in 2024 to win a Paris Olympics silver medal but the WSL decision to shift the tour start back from January to April gave him the ideal opening to finally have the knee repaired.
"I just managed the injury, kept going, kept surfing through it, but then it got pretty bad in Fiji last year at the Finals, so I had it repaired and got the meniscus put back on the bone," Robinson told AAP.
"I knew we were going to have a big break, so this was the only time to get it done, otherwise we're going to be skipping things as I needed about five months to heal.
"I've surfed a lot since then and yeah, ready to go."
While he still produced impressive results, Robinson said the injury had a mental effect on his surfing.
"I was kind of running at about 70 to 80 per cent," he said.
"It affects your movement a little bit and it's just more mental too because you might not push on some certain sections in certain waves as much, but now it's just like 'Let it go, open things up and free yourself'."
Robinson edged Japan's Kanoa Igarashi in the final at Bells last year and described the Rip Curl Pro victory as one of his most memorable.
"Yeah, huge, definitely one of the best ones," he said.
"Bells is an amazing event, it's like every other world champion has won it and icon in the sport, so, yeah, to have my name on there it's so cool."
Three consecutive events on home soil to open the year gives Australian surfers an ideal chance to bank some points with the next at Robinson's home break of Margaret River, where he has already won twice.
There is no longer a top-five winner-take-all Finals day, although the last event of the tour, the Pipe Masters in Hawaii, which Robinson won in 2023, is worth 1.5 times the usual points.
"It's huge having the first three events in Australia, it's massive," Robinson said.
With the window running April 1 to 11, competition has been delayed until at least Friday, April 3 with a big swell forecast to arrive Sunday, although wind could affect the event.
Robinson has drawn Brazilian world No.28 Samuel Pupo in his opening round, with 10 Australian men and six local women, led by world champion Molly Picklum, in the fields.
