Nichols after winning the Margaret River Pro and securing her place above the cut line. Photo: World Surf League/Matt Dunbar
Isabella Nichols is a well-rounded surfer. Not only is she a well-rounded surfer but she’s a well-rounded human. She makes time for her family. She values education and is working on an engineering degree. And she has a wide circle of friends.
Nichols was born in Denmark but moved to Coolum on Australia’s Sunshine Coast when she was two. She had a relatively normal childhood, running around outside with friends, playing soccer, and just being a kid. When she was nine, she got into surfing and by the time she was a teenager, she was regularly competing in local grom competitions.
“I started doing pro juniors when I was sixteen or seventeen and I thought it could be a possible career path for me,” says Nichols. “I loved it and I thought it would be the best job in the world.”
In 2016, Nichols won the World Juniors Championship and set her sights on qualifying for the Championship Tour. She amped up her training, dedicating all her time and energy into the QS with the hopes of achieving her dream. But for one reason or another, year after year, she fell just short of qualifying.
“I felt like I was good enough, but I couldn’t make the right decisions in heats,” says Nichols. “It was just frustrating because I felt like I was good enough to qualify and I’d been doing it for so long. When I kind of let go of that dream, that’s when everything fell into place.”
Nichols decided to put her dream of qualifying for the CT on the back burner. She continued showing up to competitions, but her focus was more about having fun. Around the same time, she began taking classes at university, pursuing an engineering degree with the hope of someday being able to work at designing wave pools. Shifting her attention to school did wonders for her headspace and took the pressure off surfing because she had a backup career plan.
Between competitions, Nichols had the opportunity to be Blake Lively’s stunt double in the 2016 film The Shallows. Nichols said the experience and working in the movie industry was unlike anything she’d ever experienced. She worked closely with Lively, teaching her how to paddle correctly and gave her surf tips. Although Nichols main focus is competition, if a similar opportunity arose and it fit into her schedule, she’d happily do it again.
In 2020, everything really came together competitively, and Nichols finally qualified for the Championship Tour.
“I can’t even tell you how satisfying it felt, after so many year to reach my dream, “says Nichols. “I can still remember the feeling—it was just relief mostly. I was the only rookie to qualify so it was all a bit surreal.”
Going into her rookie season, Nichols wasn’t sure how she’d stack up against the other women. She also knew there was a good chance she’d fall off of the CT and be back on the QS and was okay with it. But her rookie season went well — she met (and surpassed) her goals and re-qualified.
In 2022, the Championship Tour saw the introduction of the mid-season cut. While Nichols admits that adjusting to change can be difficult, she acknowledges that the pressure of the cut helped push the level of surfing on this season’s tour. Heading into Margaret River (the final stop before the chopping block, Nichols was sitting well below the mark and had already resigned to the fact that she would be back on the QS.
But, with each heat that she won, she began to have a newfound sense of hope that she might actually be able to make the cut. In the finals, Nichols surfed well and won the event, securing her spot on the CT with an exclamation point while landing in the world number four position.
“It was a dream scenario,” says Nichols. “It was the best feeling. It made my parents and friends so happy and obviously I was stoked too. Now it’s back to square one — the goal was to re-qualify for the CT and now it’s to get top five.”
A theme throughout Nichols’ career has been that she tends to find the most success when she lets go and doesn’t put too much pressure on herself. Right now, her top priority is surfing for fun and according to her track record, when she surfs for fun, things go well.
