Stunning Photos of 2024 SI Swimsuit Rookie Nina Cash in Portugal

The Swim Search co-winner will make her debut with the magazine in the 60th anniversary issue next May.

Ananya Panchal | Dec 12, 2023

Nina Cash was photographed by Ben Watts in Porto and North of Portugal.

Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated

Swim Search co-winner Nina Cash celebrated Christmas a little early this year. She is set to appear as a 2024 rookie in SI Swimsuit’s 60th anniversary issue next May, and just wrapped up her photoshoot with Ben Watts in Porto and the North, Portugal. We mean it when we say we’re beyond obsessed with the first few pics from the feature.

“This whole experience has just been nothing but magic to me. It’s been magical,” the 57-year-old stated while on location with the SI Swimsuit team. “I’ve said this a gazillion times and I will keep saying it because it’s truly a way to express how I’m feeling, but I feel like a child the night before Christmas and it’s like, now it’s Christmas day today and I’m opening up all my presents and I’m filled with such happiness and gratitude and excitement. It’s been wonderful.”

The retired university dean, who grew up in a Filipino Catholic family in Long Beach, Calif., calls modeling her “encore career.” She applied to be in the magazine on a whim, on the last day of the Swim Search submission window, and truly never thought she would make it this far in the process. Cash calls fellow SI Swimsuit stars Cheryl Tiegs, who was on the cover of the 1983 issue and Kathy Jacobs, a fellow Swim Searcher, as brand models who made her chase her dreams of working with the brand.

Below are five gorgeous, powerful and inspiring photos of the proud wife and mom of three in the southern European country. Her fierce energy is palpable, and her radiant smile is truly contagious—we can’t wait to see more of Nina Cash next May.

Nina Cash SI Swimsuit rookie — Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated

Nina Cash was photographed by Ben Watts in Porto and North of Portugal. Swimsuit top by Natalia Fedner and bottoms by Hunza G.

Published Dec 12, 2023

ANANYA PANCHAL

Ananya Panchal is a writer on the Lifestyle and Trending News team for SI Swimsuit. Before joining SI Swimsuit in 2022, she worked at Bustle, the San Francisco Chronicle and the TODAY Show. When she is not writing or doom-scrolling on social media, Panchal can be found playing sudoku, rewatching One Tree Hill or trying new restaurants. She's also a coffee and chocolate (separately) enthusiast. Panchal has a bachelor’s in communications and journalism from Boston University.