2 weeks Ago By Josh Callinan
Could a wildcard win Bells in 2025? Login or signup to continue reading Merewether representative Morgan Cibilic has given himself every chance after matching last year's run to the quarter-finals at one of Australia's iconic surfing events. Cibilic earned a place in the last eight and booked a maiden world-tour showdown with South African product Jordy Smith, having taken down Italian gun Leonardo Fiorvanti on Friday. He attended a dawn Anzac service before competing in the round of 16.
"Feeling good energy this weekend," Cibilic told World Surf League media after a third straight heat win at Bells. "Anzac Day today and got up for a dawn service, lest we forget. I felt like as soon as I woke up today I had good energy.
"It went really slow in that heat and it went out in my favour and I felt like that had something to do with it. I'm stoked." Cibilic qualified for Bells via trials at the Victorian break last week just 48 hours after donning the Merewether rash shirt in a national final on the Gold Coast.
He rode that momentum into the opening CT round, accounting for Ethan Ewing and Seth Moniz , followed up in the round of 32 v defending champion Cole Houshmand and simply continued against Fiorvanti. Cibilic's two-wave combined total of 13.67 was pieced together with a 6.
5, heat-high 7.17 and last-minute 6.93.
Fiorvanti, who holds this year's best heat average of 13.81, fell short at 12.60.
The key moment appeared to be Cibilic's five-turn combination midway through the 35-minute battle, most notably taken from right under his rival without priority. Fiorvanti spent 25 minute between his two rides, before blowing out while trying to make up ground on the buzzer. "I'm so over the moon," Cibilic said.
"It feels like me and Leo have a little rivalry, but I feel like he has a rivalry with a lot of the crew. Just such a great competitor. "I let him have the inside this time because I didn;t want to deal with him hassling me too hard.
"It feels pretty good to get the win over him. He's been surfing good year and I'm sure he'll be back." Cibilic wants to rejoin the world tour in 2026, having dropped off in three years ago after a top-five finals appearance in his rookie 2021 season.
Bells continues over the weekend. Ewing, Kanoa Igarashi and Griffin Colapinto are the others already into the men's quarters. In the women's draw, there was no action on Friday, but Newcastle-based Tyler Wright is three wins away from a third Bells crown.
My name is Josh Callinan and I'm a sports journalist at the Newcastle Herald. I started with the newspaper in 2016 after a decade at the Maitland Mercury. My name is Josh Callinan and I'm a sports journalist at the Newcastle Herald.
I started with the newspaper in 2016 after a decade at the Maitland Mercury. Daily Today's top stories curated by our news team. Also includes evening update.
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