Tyler Wright rang her second bell in as many years. Photo: Ed Sloane//World Surf League
The men and women capped off a marathon Finals Day at the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach with two Australians ringing the bell, a pair of all-Australian finals, and big shake-ups in the CT rankings. Tyler Wright took down world number one Molly Picklum to win the event for the second year in a row and Ethan Ewing bested Ryan Callinan, winning it all on the 40th anniversary of his mother’s win at Bells in 1983.
Ewing called it the event he’s wanted to win the most, saying he’s kept his late mother, Helen Lambert’s trophy next to his bed as long as he can remember.
“It’s such a special thing, I’ve been thinking about it since I’ve been on Tour. It’s been a huge goal of mine and in honor of her, I wanted to do her proud,” he said. “Tell your mum you love them because you never know what life throws at you.”
The road there wasn’t easy, either. The surf was not the best Bells Beach we’ve ever seen. Not by a long shot. Ewing needed a late big score to beat defending world champion Filipe Toledo in the men’s semifinal — an 8.43 that left Toledo scrambling for an answer that never came in the dying two minutes of their heat. At the time, Toledo had an outside chance of taking the men’s yellow jersey with an event win. Instead, the jersey will now switch owners from Jack Robinson to Joao Chianca in a tight race at the top of the leaderboard.
For Ewing, it paid back a semifinal loss to Toledo at Bells in 2022 and it also marked the second former world champion he’d have to beat in order to ring the Bell this time. The other was Gabriel Medina in the Round of 16, and Ewing also had the duty of ending Owen Wright’s competitive career when they faced off in the Round of 32. After it was all said and done, Ewing, who was a Top-5 finisher last year and part of the WSL Rip Curl Finals at Trestles, flew six spots up the rankings and into fourth on the season leaderboard.
“It feels pretty good. I’ve had a slow start this year. This event I really found my feet, and I’m really looking forward to all of the events. There’s a lot of beautiful places we get to go to and I’m looking forward to all of them,” he said.
Tyler Wright slayed some giants of her own on the way to her Bells win. She was relegated to the elimination round when the event kicked off and after surviving that and getting to Finals Day, she was matched up with both Carissa Moore (quarterfinals) and defending world champion Steph Gilmore (semifinal) en route to the finals matchup with current world number one Molly Picklum.
“It took me 12 years to get the first Bell, and this one, it felt different but all the same,” she said. “It’s an absolute honor and a privilege to surf here at Djarrak. It’s been amazing to have my full team and support here. It’s moments like these that mean the world to me now. To really execute this week the way I wanted to, like I have, I’m really proud.”
With Bells in the rearview mirror, all the attention turns to the Margaret River Pro in just over a week. At the top of everyone’s minds, Margaret River will determine the mid-year cut for both the men’s and women’s tours. Bells saw eleven men and three women solidify their spots above the cut line, regardless of their results at the next stop, leaving only a handful of spots open for remaining surfers to claim by the end of the month.
Steph Gilmore and Isabella Nichols both made the biggest moves in the rankings for the ladies, each moving five spots from below the cut line to ninth and tenth on the leaderboard respectively – and into the safe zone. Some big names that have dominated women’s professional surfing over the last decade still sit below that line headed to Western Oz. Most notably, Sally Fitzgibbons, Courtney Conlogue, and Lakey Peterson. That list also includes Brisa Hennessy, among others, who was in last years Finals at Trestles as well. There isn’t much room left above the cut so things are certainly getting tense.
Meanwhile, on the men’s side, Connor O’Leary and Matthew McGillivray came to Australia straddling the cut line and each catapulted 10 spots by making it into the quarterfinal at Bells. Kanoa Igarashi and Jackson Baker both made big moves to the safe zone, as well, swapping positions from below the cut line to above it this week. Igarashi jumped seven spots to an equal 17th on the year and Baker is now tied for the final position above the cut line after making a run into the quarterfinal at Bells. Most notably, Kelly Slater is still two spots below the cut and Kolohe Andino is well, well below the safe zone at number 30 in the rankings. Margaret River looms. And things couldn’t be any tighter given what’s ahead.
Check out the rankings here, as the Championship Tour heads to Western Australia.
