My Story

Janina Zeitler was born on September 19 2000, in Munich, and her career is truly unique and very unusual, because despite being born, raised and having lived her entire life landlocked on the edge of the Alps, Janina has found a way to become a Professional Surfer.
Sport has always been very important to Janina, she was particularly fond of board sports, having already been on skis at the age of two and on a windsurf board at the age of three. Living near the mountains, Janina's competitive drive originally comes from ski racing and she was actually in the National Ski Squad for many years.
She started surfing at the late age of 11, on the Floßlände, a River wave in the middle of Munich. A year later she tried surfing in the ocean for the very first time.
Back then, surfing was more of a recreational sport, something that you can do from time to time in your holidays, but it quickly became Janina's biggest passion and the dream of turning Surfing into her life started to emerge.
In 2017 she ultimately had to choose and hung up her skis, fully concentrating on surfing.
Fast forward, Janina has now literally won everything there is to win in the sport of ​​Rapid Surfing, with some of her biggest accomplishments being becoming the Reigining European Champion and a 2x German Championn.
After finishing High School in Munich, Janina finally had some time to dedicate herself to Ocean Surfing, as until that point she could only do so during her school hollidays a couple weeks a year.
She is now competing in the WSL European QS Tour and is an important athlete of the German National Team of Surfing, having over the last years became German Junior Champion and represented her country in the ISA World Championships in Japan and the USA, as well as in the ISA European Championships in Portugal.
Through her incredible story of resilience and self-belief, Janina is opening a brand new path for others to follow, proving that it is indeed possible for someone from Germany, or any other landlocked country, to became a Professional Surfer, striving to be for others the relatable inspiring sports figure that she did not have herself when this "impossible" dream began.