Sunshine Coast surfers head to world tour event with some promising form

Sunshine Coast’s best surfers will head to the next stop of the world tour in good shape, after showing promising signs early in the season.

Wildcard Reef Heazlewood and regulars Julian Wilson, Keely Andrew and Isabella Nichols have displayed plenty of potential during the opening rounds.

The former enjoyed a strong run to 9th place at the Rip Curl Narrabeen Classic, after being called up as an injury replacement for American surfing legend Kelly Slater.

“I’ve just put a lot of work in, with my coach Mark Richardson. He’s so smart with heat surfing and it feels like it’s paying off,” he said.

“I had a good run on the Qualifying Series before this and was able to put in some consistent heats.

“To bring that form to the CT (Championship Tour) is awesome.”

Heazlewood is renowned for landing big aerial moves.

He focused on his strength and conditioning with Fluid Performance in 2020, while the season was essentially cancelled due to COVID-19.

“I’ve got an awesome guy, Tim Just, in my corner and we’ve been working a lot.”

“Last year, with the season off, I worked on that.

“People keep asking him (Just) how I’m not breaking my legs and stuff.

“But it’s because I’ve put in a lot of hard work and got a lot of strength and it’s paying off.”

He’s set to remain on tour for the next event in Western Australia, in the absence of Slater.

Andrew is 9^th in the 17-strong women’s overall rankings after placings of 17^th, 3^rd and 5^th.

The 26-year-old, who has competed on tour since 2015, is yet to win an event but has reached the semi-finals or better five times.

Nichols is enjoying an impressive rookie season, after earning her place on tour via the Qualifying Series.

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The 23-year-old is 10^th in the rankings, after placings of 9^th, 2^nd and 17^th.

Her appearance at the Rip Curl Newcastle Cup raised plenty of eyebrows, because she toppled seven-time world champion enroute to the final, where she was edged by superstar Carissa Moore.

Wilson is 22^nd in the 32-man standings, after placings of 17^th, 9^th and 17^th.

The 32-year-old is an experienced campaigner and renowned as one of Australia’s best surfers, having booked his ticket to the Olympic Games in July.

He’s a five-time event winner and was the 2018 tour runner-up, to Brazil’s Gabriel Medina.

The world tour season started at Hawaii late last year.

The Australian leg includes events 2 to 5, at Newcastle, Narrabeen, Margaret River and Rottnest Island.

The next stop, the Boost Mobile Margaret River Pro, is due to start on May 2.

The season includes 10 events.