After breaking his back at the fearsome Teahupo’o the ‘Ice Man’ will face his demons in Tahiti later this year in a bid for gold

When Ethan Ewing first began competing on the junior surfing circuit, his rivals developed a nickname for the young Australian. Even as a teenager, the North Stradbroke surfer exuded preternatural composure while in the water during a heat. He would sit in the middle of the line-up with priority, the right to take off on any given wave, and control proceedings. While other surfers chased smaller sets, taking off on wave after wave, Ewing knew he only needed two scores to win a heat. He would sit still and wait for the right wave, the right moment to pounce.

When it came, more often than not Ewing would perfectly execute and secure a heat-winning score. His unflappable focus earned him the nickname “Ice Man”, and a junior world title. Nearly a decade on, as the Olympics loom in barely 100 days’ time, the world number two’s steely edge has him in contention for a gold medal at Paris 2024.

How closely have you been paying attention to sporting matters over the last seven days? Let’s find out, shall we …

• Fifty-two-year-old is at Bells Beach potentially for last time
• American wins his opening heat at WSL event in Australia

Surfing great Kelly Slater has confirmed he is on the verge of retiring from competition, saying he will end his peerless career “pretty soon”.

The 11-time world champion, 52, told the Guardian last year he would call time on his career after the 2024 Olympics, if he qualified to represent the USA in Tahiti.

The Irish actor on surfing in mid-winter, the best pasta she’s ever had, and why Pink makes her feel like a kid again

The actor Niamh Algar was born in Mullingar, Ireland, in 1992. In 2019 she was named one of Bafta’s Breakthrough Brits and in 2021 was nominated for best supporting actress for her role in Calm With Horse s. Her screen roles include Shane Meadows’s The Virtues , Ridley Scott’s Raised By Wolves , Prano Bailey-Bond’s horror film Censor , and Sebastián Lelio’s The Wonder . Next, she stars in the Sky Atlantic drama Mary & George , based on the story of the Countess of Buckingham, who is said to have persuaded her son to seduce James I in an attempt to gain power.

• 15-year-old hoped to qualify for second sport at Paris 2024
• Brown is the reigning world champion in park skateboarding

Sky Brown’s Olympic surfing dreams are over after she failed to qualify for Paris 2024 at the ISA World Surfing Games in Puerto Rico. The 15-year-old was hoping to represent Team GB in both surfing and skateboarding at this summer’s Games in the French capital.

But her quest for qualification in the former was extinguished by a third-placed finish in the sixth repechage on Friday, behind 14-year-old Chinese surfer Yang Siqi and Janire Gonzalez-Etxabarri of Spain. She registered scores of 4.53 and 4.33 from her two best attempts for a combined total of 8.86 in the waters off Arecibo.