South African veteran Jordy Smith and new world No.1 Gabriela Bryan take Margaret River Pro titles as Aussie Isabella Nicholls wins new car
The final two events on the WTC Australian swing failed to deliver a local winner after South African veteran Jordy Smith and new world No.1 Gabriela Bryan took out the men's and women's events at Margaret River.
But Bells Beach champ Isabella Nichols flew the Aussie flag after taking out the Aussie Treble, which was awarded to the best surfer over the three Australian events, including Bells and the Gold Coast Pro.
Bryan proved a destroyer of local hopes on her way to her second title of the year, ending Sally Fitzgibbons' season on Monday before the 23-year-old Hawaiian defended the title she won last year by taking down reigning world champ Caitlin Simmers in a dominant final display.
'I'm honestly speechless, I don't know what to think,' Bryan said after her win.
'I've just been surfing how I want to surf and I just can't believe it.'
Smith, in his 18th season on tour, then scorched enigmatic American star Griffin Colapinto to secure only his eighth tour win, but his second in 2025, after ending an eight-year drought in El Salvador. He'll take the No.1 ranking to the next event in California next month.
There were no Aussies in either final in Western Australia, the first time in the three Australian events.
Nichols and Jack Robinson won at Bells, while Fitzgibbons and comeback star Julian Wilson lost finals on the Gold Coast.
The effort of Nichols to secure one title, while making quarter-finals on the Gold Coast and again at Margaret River, helped secure her fourth spot on the world rankings and the Aussie Treble, which came with a new car.
Nichols, Molly Picklum and Tyler Wright were the only Australian women to make the mid-season cut and will contest the rest of the season in their bid for the world title.
Ethan Ewing, Robinson and Joel Vaughan made the men's cut, with four more events before the finals in Fiji in August.
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