{"id":19190,"date":"2026-02-13T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T03:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ripcurl.com.vn\/dane-henry-awarded-2026-rip-curl-pro-bells-beach-wildcard\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T10:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T03:00:00","slug":"dane-henry-awarded-2026-rip-curl-pro-bells-beach-wildcard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ripcurl.com.vn\/dane-henry-awarded-2026-rip-curl-pro-bells-beach-wildcard\/","title":{"rendered":"\ub370\uc778 \ud5e8\ub9ac, 2026 Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach \uc640\uc77c\ub4dc\uce74\ub4dc \uc218\uc0c1"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nHand-delivered by 3x World Champion Mick Fanning<\/h2>\n

Each year, Rip Curl is granted one men\u2019s wildcard entry into the main draw of the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach, the longest-running surf competition in the world.<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
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A post shared by Rip Curl (@ripcurl)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

While many of our team are deserving of this opportunity, one surfer truly stood out after a stellar year.<\/p>\n

In 2025, Dane Henry elevated his surfing to another level, claiming Gold at the ISA World Surfing Games and backing it up with a WSL World Junior Title. At just 19 years old, Henry has firmly cemented himself as a serious contender. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Three-time World Champion Mick Fanning<\/a> knows exactly what a wildcard opportunity can mean. In 2001, Fanning received a wildcard into the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach at the same age as Dane. That year, he went on to win the event and ring the iconic Bell.<\/p>\n

In a full-circle moment, Mick personally surprised Dane at his home to deliver the news. After the initial shock and excitement, the pair sat down for a candid chat, with Mick asking Dane some questions about his upcoming CT debut.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Mick: <\/strong>Mate, congratulations. You just found out you’re going to be a wildcard at the 2026 Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach. What’s going through your head right now?<\/p>\n

Dane:<\/strong> It\u2019s a big shock. I definitely didn\u2019t expect it. Last year was the first time being down there at Bells that I felt that FOMO and truly ready to be on that Championship Tour (CT) stage. I\u2019m ready to go. Just thinking about ringing the Bell gives me goosebumps. It\u2019s a lifelong dream of mine.<\/p>\n

Mick:<\/strong> The CT is such a different step up in competition. Where do you see your strengths? Where do you see your weaknesses?<\/p>\n

Dane: <\/strong>Yeah, it’s going to be a weird one coming from being a big fish in a little pond in the Juniors and then straight onto the big stage. I feel like my strength is in the air, but at Bells, I\u2019ll need to mix it up a bit. My laybacks, carves, and just showing some variation will be my go-to. It\u2019d be pretty sick to do a couple of those big Griffin Colapinto airs at the Bowl, big full rotations. But I just want to mix it up and really show the judges what I’ve got and try and match it with the big boys.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Mick: <\/strong>Alright, so there’s always this debate, Bells or Winki. If you had a choice, where would you have your very first heat?<\/p>\n

Dane:<\/strong> I’d probably rather it at Winki. I feel like Winki suits my surfing a bit better and I have a better relationship with that wave. But I was in the car with Morgan [Ciblic] a couple of years ago when he got the wildcard and we were blasting Hells Bells before round one, and I was like, \u201cthis is proper\u201d. So, to have a classic Bells day as my first heat would be incredible. It would be sick to just get some crazy big lines and a big bowl section. I’ve been dreaming of a classic Bells day. I haven’t really had one yet. I\u2019ve had some good days, but haven’t had a proper day of days. So that would be super special to get in my first heat.<\/p>\n

Mick:<\/strong> Emotionally, how are you going to feel? Do you think you’ll be nervous or do you think you’re going to be just psyched and ready to kill?<\/p>\n

Dane:<\/strong> I want to say that I won’t be too nervous, but I’ll definitely be nervous. But I’m so ready to go. I’m itching for it, and ready to just give it my all.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Mick:<\/strong> What’s the attitude that you’re taking into Bells? Like, if you’ve got one or two words to sum it up, what’s it going to be?<\/p>\n

Dane:<\/strong> I’ve kind of had this little mantra that I’ve been saying all last year, and it seemed to work. I would say to myself, \u201cput the work boots on\u201d. And I think with Bells you’ve got to put the steel caps on and go out and get the job done. So that’s going to be the same mindset. But I just want to go out, slow everything down, slow those bottom turns down, wait for the wave to do its thing. I learned from my first few times going there that I was just rushing and mistiming everything, so I might try and get down there early, surf some bigger boards and just chill out, and work towards the event.<\/p>\n

Mick:<\/strong> Awesome mate, I’m super psyched for you. I know what that feeling’s like, and you only ever get one first so it’s going to be awesome to watch.<\/p>\n

The Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach will kick off the 2026 World Surf League season and also marks 50 years of professional surfing.<\/p>\n

The waiting period runs from April 1\u201311, 2026, and like Mick, we can\u2019t wait to see what damage Dane will do in his first-ever CT event.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hand-delivered by 3x World Champion Mick Fanning Each year, Rip Curl is granted one men\u2019s wildcard entry into the main draw of the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach, the longest-running surf competition in the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":19191,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[592],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events-updates"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ripcurl.com.vn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ripcurl.com.vn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ripcurl.com.vn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ripcurl.com.vn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ripcurl.com.vn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ripcurl.com.vn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ripcurl.com.vn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ripcurl.com.vn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ripcurl.com.vn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}