Missed the wedding but won Bells: Australian surfer Isabella Nichols finally gets her fairytale
Earlier this month, Nichols made the agonising choice not to attend her twin sister's wedding and shoot for surfing glory instead in El Salvador. The 27-year-old had reckoned tearfully that it had been the biggest sacrifice of her life.
She missed out on a fairytale at Punta Roca, defeating Australia's current rising star Molly Picklum in the semi-finals only to be defeated narrowly in the final, 14.33-11.74 by Gabriela Bryan, the 23-year-old Hawaiian.
But the former world junior champ has now gone one better at Bells, throwing down the gauntlet with a big early score of 8.33 points and backing it up to win 16.26 points to 12.67 at the famous Victorian break.
'The process for this win has honestly been a 15-year process,' Nichols said. 'I've been coming here since I was 15 years old. All the trips down here, three times a year to come down and work on my technique and it's all paid off.
'To have a bell, honestly this does not feel real. I'm speechless.'
Nichols only made her way back on to the elite Champions Tour (CT) this year and her only other victory on the CT came three years ago at the Margaret River Pro.
The Hawaiian-born Silva, 20, won the world junior title this year, the same event that Nichols saluted at back in 2016. Now Nichols, who was on the cusp of quitting the sport in 2023 to focus on engineering studies and her goal of building wave pools, has her revenge.
Earlier on Sunday, Nichols took down her celebrated countrywoman and two-time world champ Tyler Wright in the semis.
The men's final later on Sunday will pit Australia's Paris Olympics silver medallist Jack Robinson against Japan's Kanoa Igarashi.
The 27-year-old Robinson left it late before sneaking past American Griffin Colapinto in the second semi.
Sign up to Australia Sport
Get a daily roundup of the latest sports news, features and comment from our Australian sports desk
after newsletter promotion
Robinson's final 7.17-point wave saw him edge ahead 14.67-14.33.
The Aussie started his day with a 15.94-14.57 victory over American Jake Marshall in the last quarter-final.
After a thrilling run through the event, Australian wildcard Morgan Cibilic had no luck in a low-scoring semi-final loss to Igarashi, where decent-sized waves were at a premium.
Cibilic only caught his second wave of the heat in the final minute and fell, gifting victory to Igarashi, 10.27 points to 5.37.
'It is what is at the end of the day - you can't argue with the ocean,' said a philosophical Cibilic.
'But it is pretty brutal.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scottish Sun
2 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Man Utd ‘hand Antony ultimatum to accept transfer offer this week or rot in stands as Real Betis hold out for loan deal'
Antony becomes the second Man Utd winger that could spend months away from the pitch this season DEAL WITH THE DEVILS Man Utd 'hand Antony ultimatum to accept transfer offer this week or rot in stands as Real Betis hold out for loan deal' Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) MANCHESTER UNITED have reportedly handed Antony an ultimatum as they try and move the Brazilian on this summer. Antony is no longer part of the plans at Old Trafford after failing to impress following his £86million move from Ajax in 2022. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 5 Manchester United have reportedly handed Antony a transfer ultimatum Credit: PA 5 Antony excelled while on loan at Real Betis last season Credit: Getty His failings in Manchester saw him shipped out on loan to Real Betis for the second half of last season, where he returned to form as one of their star players. Since then, Betis have been keen to re-sign the tricky winger, but don't appear to have the funds to make a permanent transfer happen at United's asking price. Reports in Spain claim that Antony is keen to move back to Betis too, but that the La Liga club have only discussed the idea of a loan switch rather than a permanent transfer. According to Spanish outlet Al Final de la Palmera, that has led Man Utd to hand Antony an ultimatum in order to prevent him waiting until the end of the window to force through a loan. READ MORE ON MAN UTD NACHO LIBRE Alejandro Garnacho 'sends Man Utd blunt message' over Chelsea transfer saga The Red Devils, who would prefer a permanent sale, are said to have told Antony he must accept one of the permanent offers they have received from elsewhere before the Premier League starts this weekend or face sitting on the bench until January. Antony has been linked with a host of clubs this summer, including a switch to reunite with Erik ten Hag at Bayer Leverkusen in Germany. Manchester United declined to comment when approached by SunSport about the claims. The situation appears to be similar to that surrounding fellow wantaway winger Alejandro Garnacho. 5 CASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS The 21-year-old has been frozen out by Ruben Amorim as he tries to force through a move to Prem rivals Chelsea. And Fabrizio Romano has revealed Garnacho is prepared to stay at Old Trafford and not play if he does not get his desired move. 'Bring him back' - Antony needs another chance at Man Utd under Ruben Amorim, says club legend He told DAZN: "The message coming from the player is, Chelsea or nothing. "Chelsea or I stay here and I don't play football for the next six or 12 months." He adds Chelsea have stepped up talks for Garnacho, having already agreed personal terms. United initially set an asking price of £70million for the Argentina international. But despite interest from Chelsea and Napoli no bid has been forthcoming, leading the Red Devils to drop their price to £50m. 5 Alejandro Garnacho is trying to force through a move to Chelsea Credit: PA
Scotsman
3 hours ago
- Scotsman
Tony Bloom explains who makes Hearts calls on managers and transfers as he endorses Derek McInnes
EPL chairman impressed with the start from his Scottish Premiership club Sign up to our Hearts newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Tony Bloom watched from the directors' box as Hearts beat both Aberdeen and Dundee United to start the William Hill Premiership with a 100 per cent record. The Brighton and Hove Albion chairman analysed his Scottish club at close quarters for the first time and is impressed with the work of head coach Derek McInnes so far. Hearts lured McInnes from Kilmarnock in May after he scored highly on Jamestown Analytics' data. He was also highlighted as a good option for the Edinburgh club last year before they hired Neil Critchley. McInnes is now building momentum at Tynecastle Park having won all of his six competitive games in charge, including Premier Sports Cup ties. That competition returns to the agenda again this weekend when Hearts travel to St Mirren for a tricky last-16 tie. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Bloom, the Brighton and Hove Albion chairman who also own minority shares in Hearts, Belgian side Union Saint-Gilloise and Australian club Melbourne Victory, has no issue endorsing McInnes. He explained the importance of a head coach and how the appointment works. The final decision rests with the Tynecastle board. 'There's no doubt that a football club head coach is critical,' said Bloom. 'Talking about how important the players are, obviously the head coach knits it all together in so many different ways. The idea is you've got a really good head coach who understands the club and will improve the players. In any recruitment of a head coach, it's just one position. If that, for whatever reason, doesn't quite go right, the club in that particular season may not do so well. So I think with Derek McInnes as Hearts head coach I think it's a really good appointment. From what I've seen from the outside, the start is going really well. 'I wasn't personally involved [in hiring McInnes]. Jamestown Analytics, when it comes to the head coach, will have in-depth discussions and it will give some names to Graeme [Jones, sporting director] and the board. It's up to Graeme and the board to make the decision. It's not just about the data with the head coach, there's so many things which go into it. Again, Jamestown Analytics is an advisory service. The Hearts board will make every decision.' Hearts transfer business - and Jamestown's role The process is no different when signing players. So far this summer, Hearts have nine new recruits in place: Norwegian right-back Christian Borchgrevink, Greek winger Alexandros Kyziridis, Portuguese forward Claudio Braga, Irish midfielder Oisin McEntee, Belgian striker Elton Kabangu, Scottish centre-back Stuart Findlay, Albanian winger Sabah Kerjota, Icelandic midfielder Tomas Magnusson and Burkinabe forward Pierre Landry Kabore. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Jamestown has been heavily involved in them all. 'It's just advisory service, that's all it does,' added Bloom. 'Jamestown Analytics would not want to have an agreement with the club if they weren't using it in the right way. But that doesn't mean: 'Here are the players, go and get them.' It's not nearly as simple. There's a lot more to signing of players than just the data. That is a really significant part but, as we all know, you can have a brilliant player and it just doesn't work out. 'For a club like Hearts, they've got to understand or learn the values of the club. They've got to be the right person in the dressing room. They've got to have the right personality. I'm not saying every player that comes in is going to tick every box, that's unrealistic. But what you don't want is somebody coming in who is an excellent player and is a disruptor because that can really hurt you as a football club. 'We certainly want to speak to the player. The manager will typically speak to the player, the head of recruitment or the sporting director will speak to the player. So I'd imagine there's a lot going on there. I don't know exactly how it works with Hearts, but I've got every confidence that they do a lot of due diligence on the player on top of all the analytics that they get from Jamestown.'
South Wales Argus
3 hours ago
- South Wales Argus
Swansea reach second round of Carabao Cup with victory over 10-man Crawley
The 20-year-old striker was signed from Scottish club Kilmarnock this summer and wasted no time in making an impact after taking over from Zan Vipotnik up front in the 64th minute. Up until that point the Swans had struggled to add to the fourth-minute goal – their first of the season – from their Brazilian winger Ronald. Chance after chance went begging until Wales found the net. The referee ruled out a goal from Ethan Galbraith in the 37th minute for offside interference as Vipotnik jumped over the ball to let it go through his legs, and Ronald missed a sitter at the back post as he pushed a cross from another new boy, Zeidane Inoussa, over the bar from point-blank range. Crawley keeper Harvey Davies made a string of important saves to further frustrate the home side, while Kabongo Tshimanga gave the League Two visitors a glimmer of hope with his side's first goal of the season in the 75th minute. The sending off of substitute Gavan Holohan for a strong tackle on Goncalo Franco in the 83rd minute then ended their hopes of a fightback and Galbraith added a third for the home side in the fourth minute of stoppage time.
