There was a time not too long ago, when Izzi Gomez almost quit surfing forever. From the outside, she looked to be riding high, but behind the radical surf clips and smiling photos, Gomez had come unmoored. In a new film with sponsor Red Bull, “Chrysalis” Gomez tells the story of how she lost, then found herself and how she rediscovered her love for riding waves.
“I disappeared for a little bit,” Gomez told SURFER in a phone interview last week. “I was in such a bad place and I couldn’t get myself to feel good. I want to be open about it, because I feel like there’s so many people that feel the way I was feeling, and it’s awful.”
Even now, Gomez isn’t entirely sure what caused her mental health to unravel. Her troubles seemed to have started after a lengthy recovery from hip surgery in 2021. When she returned to big-wave surfing the following winter, the pressure to perform felt intense. Her contracts were set to expire and Gomez pushed herself to make up for lost time.
The thing is, Gomez did perform. She had one of the best winters of her career. In January 2023, for example, she fulfilled a long-time dream when she rode a beautiful tow barrel at Peʻahi. Still, Gomez felt desperately unhappy.
Habitually an upbeat, positive person, Gomez struggled to communicate how troubled she was to the people around her. From the outside, she looked as happy and successful as ever. “Mentally, I was so depressed and I couldn’t get it together,” she remembers. In an effort to remove one source of stress, Gomez deleted social media for three months.
For the next two winters, the big swells came and went, and Gomez sat them out. She knew she had to bring her whole self to big-wave surfing, and at the time, it felt impossible. Then for several months in 2024, she stopped surfing altogether. While her sponsors Red Bull and Roxy were supportive, she knew there were limits to their patience. It was an agonizing time.
“It was frustrating for both of us,” she says. “Because it’s was like, ‘if you’re not doing anything, we can’t really sponsor you. But we also want to help you figure out what you want to do.’”
The time off from surfing helped, and she started to see a path forward. “How do I make surfing fun?” she wondered. One answer was to ride different boards. Her grandfather Jim Brady had ridden Bing in the past, so Gomez reached out to the brand. For the first time in her career, she redirected her energy away from fine-tuning her performance and the self-criticism that went with it. Equipped with twin fins and midlengths from Bing, she set out to turn the lineup into her playground.
A bit of an over-achiever when it comes to water sports, Gomez, now 26, won five world titles in stand-up paddle boarding between the years 2014 and 2019. Then in search of a new challenge, she turned her sights to big-wave surfing and became a stand-out at Peʻahi. As though that weren’t enough, Gomez also competed in shortboarding on the QS and at ISA World Games. It’s clear now that the pressure she put on herself to excel came at a price.
As she eased back into surfing in 2024, Gomez remained uncertain about returning to big-wave surfing. That changed when she received a last-minute call-up to the Eddie Aiku Big Wave Invitational in December. By then, it had been two winters since she’d last paddled out in big waves, but she couldn’t imagine turning down the chance to compete in the prestigious event.
When she paddled out at Waimea for her heat, she caught one wave, and it meant the world to her. “Even though it was just one, it was huge for me, to push myself to do that again,” she says. Gomez realized that she was starting to feel better.
“Chrysalis” doesn’t skip over the dark parts of her story, but the majority of the film focuses on a series of surf trips Gomez took in search of adventure and renewal. “I wanted to keep the momentum of this new stoke for surfing,” she says. Exploring British Columbia with her friend Sanoa Olin was a highlight for Gomez. The film also documents her big-wave surfing exploits at Peʻahi, Maverick’s, and Teahupoʻo.
With the non-stop chatter about the “Super El Niño,” surf forecasters are calling for a big winter this year. Gomez isn’t letting the hype get to her. Secure in her life and her career, she’s looking forward to going all-in on big-wave surfing and expects to spend the coming winter on the North Shore, Oahu. She’s not sure what to expect, but she is more certain than ever that she wants to be out there.
“It’s such a personal kind of game that you’re playing, of pushing yourself,” Gomez says of big-wave surfing. “And those moments when you have those amazing rides — It’s so sweet because it doesn’t happen every day.”
Rather than measuring her performance by a series of numbers from a judging panel, she’ll compete to be the best version of herself — and that feels pretty good to her. Gomez has realized that competing in shortboard events isn’t for her. Now riding for Channel Islands, she’ll continue searching for adventure and do everything she can to keep surfing fun.
The film’s title “Chrysalis” comes from the life cycle of a butterfly, and specifically, that moment of transition, just before it emerges from its cocoon. Gomez has always loved butterflies and believes that the metaphor describes the past few years of her life. As she struggled to find her path, Gomez would pray for a sign in the form of a monarch butterfly. Then she would see the bright, fragile creatures everywhere she went.
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“I think the name represents the last four years of my life,” she says. “And now, coming out on the other side, I’m enjoying surfing more than I ever have. I feel really grounded in who I am, and the fact that, this is what I do really love.”
In recent years, it’s become more common for professional athletes to talk openly about their mental health struggles. Some like gymnast and Olympic Gold medalist Simone Biles have taken time away from competition to rebalance their lives. The stress can be relentless for athletes who must perform at a high level while also creating a flawless public image on social media.
A desire to be transparent and help other people inspired Gomez to make “Chrysalis.” She wants the film’s audience to see the human side of professional sports, while also understanding that we, too, can find our way through life’s difficult moments just like she did.
“I hope that people can see it and know that they’re not alone and that there is light at the end of the tunnel,” says Gomez. “Beautiful things can come of the darkest parts of your life.”