One year ago, Mick Fanning was counting his lucky stars.

The Australian surfer had just been on the end of a shark attack while in the water at the J-Bay Open, a competition that takes place in Jeffreys Bay, located on the eastern cape of South Africa. 

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"Man, I'm happy to not even compete ever again. To walk away from that, I'm just so stoked," Fanning said after the incident. Now he has courageously returned to the scene where it all happened.

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Fanning competed at the 2016 J-Bay Open Wednesday, battling through an ankle injury picked up during a warmup last Friday. He had told Instagram followers on Tuesday that he would be "good to go" and hoped his ankle would hold up.

Fanning has participated in some surfing events in 2016 after taking personal leave from the World Surf League tour after the incident and the death of his brother. 

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A three-time world champion, Fanning was up against Connor Coffin of the U.S. and Alejo Muniz from Brazil in the competition's first round. 

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Fanning started strongly with his first wave scoring 6.17 points out of 10, then consolidated his lead on his third wave, which scored 7.50. Fanning convincingly won the first round with a total of 13.67 points of a possible 20, moving on to the third round of the competition. 

Credit: world surf league

It was a seemingly casual win for the champion surfer, visibly hobbling from his ankle problem as he was greeted by photographers and media when he returned to shore. 

Fanning didn't reference the shark attack in an interview with Rosy Hodge from the World Surf League after his heat, preferring instead to focus on how he was getting over his ankle injury.

"It's been a big week actually," Fanning told Hodge. "I got here early and hurt my ankle, and had to sit on the sidelines and watch the amazing waves go through, it was just like torture ... once you're out there in the heat, you don't feel anything. It was great to get back out."

CORRECTION:An earlier version of this article stated Fanning won with a score of 13.87, when in fact the score was 13.67.

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