Local trials winner Ellie Harrison is headed to Finals Day after knocking off defending Bells champ Tyler Wright. Photo: Ed Sloane//World Surf League
Two wildcards delivered big blows to the men’s and women’s CT rankings on day two of the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach. A defending Bells champ (Tyler Wright) was sent home early. A rookie facing relegation with the mid-season cut approaching took down the current yellow jersey owner. And the other defending champ at Bells (Ethan Ewing) needed a buzzer beater wave (and maybe some help from the judges if you saw the broadcast team’s surprise reaction to his score) to escape the third CT vet elimination at the hands of a wildcard. Day two was a run on big names.
The first came in the women’s Round of 16 when local wildcard Ellie Harrison beat Wright in a back-and-forth heat. Wright was actually in the lead when the buzzer rang but judges were still tallying scores for Harrison’s final ride.
“I went into that heat with the mentality that I’ve got nothing to lose,” she said afterward. “I tried to keep my cool, so I was just waiting for the perfect opportunity to find where the sets were coming in and try to get a big score. Then I got another one, and I wasn’t sure if it was going to be the score, but I was so glad I got through. It’s a dream come true surfing at Bells, walking out with all my family and friends cheering for me, it’s something I’ve thought about every year, and now it’s real. It’s a little weird, I don’t know how to act.”
No doubt the 18-year-old local surfer will be a fan favorite and a central storyline on Finals Day.
The very next heat saw a huge upset. Rookie Sawyer Lindblad put up her second biggest heat score of the year (15.67) and her second excellent wave score on the CT to beat current world number one Molly Picklum. The win will shake things up on two ends of the women’s rankings. First, the early exit for Picklum likely represents her throwaway score now and leaves the door open for the rest of the top five to close in on her lead. Johanne Defay had already moved onto the quarterfinal with her win in Heat 1 of the Round of 16, overtaking Picklum in the rankings in the process. For Lindblad, the win offers a shot at avoiding the mid-season cut. The rookie said after her heat that she was just happy to make into the quarterfinal and is avoiding thinking about the cut, but making the Final would leapfrog her into the top 10 before Margaret River.
On the men’s side, injury replacement Morgan Cibilic delivered a massive gift to the rest of the field by taking out world number four Jack Robinson. For Cibilic, it’s a return to form at the CT level. In 2021, he was a competitor in the first ever WSL Finals as a rookie. He fell victim to the mid-season cut the next year, however, and has spent the past two seasons fighting through the Challenger Series where he arguably finished just one big result away from re-qualifying.
“It feels amazing, I’m just so stoked to be here and grateful for the opportunity to be able to compete in another CT, and it makes it so much sweeter to make a few heats and put a couple of waves together,” said Ciblic. “It’s been so good. Coming down to the home of Rip Curl and getting to surf the bowl pumping yesterday was kinda a dream of mine. Getting to surf against Jack man-on-man was pretty sick. I’m pretty good mates with him, so it was good to have a little battle and epic to come out on top.”
