Isabella Nichols: ‘I was bawling my eyes out, I was going to quit surfing’

Isabella Nichols wears a tiny bit of her heart on her sleeve. Sketched in tattoo ink on her right forearm is the outline of a mini Viking ship. It’s a salute to her mormor – her Danish grandmother – her birthplace of Denmark and Viking heritage. But it is also a reminder of the warrior spirit that keeps her afloat as she seeks to establish herself among the world’s elite surfers.

“My grandma was part of a Viking club,” Nichols says. “Every morning – rain, hail or shine – all the women of the club would go down to the beach, strip naked and go for skinny dips in the ocean. Even if the ocean was frozen over, they’d use ice chisels to poke holes in the ice. She did this up until she was about 85.”

The same stoic Viking blood appears to run in Nichols’ veins. She made that clear to the world in 2021 when, as a rookie in her first year on the World Surf League’s Championship Tour, she coolly defeated seven-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore by exploiting tactical wave priority rules at the Newcastle Cup.

Nichols had priority in the semi-final’s closing minutes, and Gilmore needed a wave to win. Footage of the stony-faced rookie sitting in the water just inches from a veteran of the sport, ready to pounce on any wave that might offer Gilmore an opportunity, showcased a ruthless edge.

“It’s a professional sport, if you can get the edge over someone by all means do it. Someone’s going to do it to you if you don’t do it to them,” Nichols says.

The 24-year-old Australian from Coolum on the Sunshine Coast has otherwise remained something of a mystery character; a Billabong rider not seen “in” with social media cliques formed in other teams like Rip Curl and Roxy . It’s partly why, when Nichols was catapulted into the mainstream