Surfing champion on burnout: 'My body just shut down'

"I was in bed for I think about six weeks I couldn't surf I was just completely exhausted. " Lucy Campbell talks about how the sport she fell in love with as a child almost broke her. Campbell, 31, is one of the most successful surfers England has produced, with eight national titles to her name.

But after a severe spell of burnout that left her exhausted, isolated and unable to train, she is setting a new course, on her own terms. Campbell started surfing aged eight at Woolacombe in Devon and what began as copying her brothers quickly turned serious. By her teens she was competing nationally, and at 18 she won her first open women's title.

Faced with a choice between university and surfing, she committed fully to the sport. For more than a decade, that decision paid off. Campbell travelled constantly, competed across Europe and helped prove that professional surfing could be a long-term career for women in England.

"There was a period of four or five years where I was not in one place for longer than about three weeks," she said. "I loved it at the time, but it takes a huge toll on your body. " When results dipped, Campbell said she pushed harder [BBC] The breaking point came during the 2024 season.