andre slade / Nikki Cox

Those who compete against Nikki tell of a truly professional athlete, totally focused to the point it's as if she has an unfair advantage on the start line. Nikki would say she deserves that advantage because she puts her heart, mind and body into everything she does, and she's not about to let others get one over her.

Born and raised in Napier, New Zealand, Nikki joined surf life saving in 1998 as a relatively late starter by regular standards, by following her sister Jaime. A member of Westshore SLSC from the beginning, it didn't take long for Nikki to find her feet and she started to thrive on the competitive side of surf.

It was coach Chris Swain who Nikki credits to her rise through the competitive ranks, instilling the right attitude, technique and aspiration. Surprisingly Nikki's early success didn't come in the water events, she won her first NZ title on the sand in the U16 Beach Flags. While continuing to train on the board to supplement her beach events it wasn't long until the board race became her favoured event, and along with this the ski and ironwoman events followed suit - the rest they say, is history! 

Nikki has also lent her talented skills in surf sports to coaching, she teamed up with top New Zealand male competitor (and andre slade athlete) Daniel Moodie, together they coached the Westshore juniors, winning the National Junior Championships (Ocean Athletes) for three seasons in a row.

Nikki holds numerous national and world championship titles and is the current New Zealand Ironwoman Champion and World Board Race Champion. 

Away from competition she works as an Associate Account after recently having completed a Bachelor of Management Studies degree with honours at the University of Waikato.