For immediate release 
20 September 2022
From: Surfing New Zealand
Sport: International Surfing
Event: 2022 ISA World Surfing Games
Divisions: Open Men’s and Women’s
Date: 16-24 September 2022
Location: Huntington Beach, California, USA,
Websites and Social: ISA and Surfing New Zealand #ISAWorlds
Girls shine on Day three of the ISA World Surfing Games
In the early hours of the morning the ladies took to the water at Huntington beach after a delayed start due to the Super Girl pro.
Ariana Shewry of Taranaki was up first for the Kiwis surfing against Francisca Veselko of Portugal and Havana Cabrero from Puerto Rico. The girls got to work quickly getting a few small scoring waves under their belts, unfortunately as was to be a common occurrence throughout day three, the waves were few and far between with Ariana struggling to find any waves with decent scoring potential. Relegated to the first round of the repechage Ariana turned things around dominating her Italian opponent and earning herself a spot in the 2 round of repechage which will be held tomorrow at 9:30am (NZST) on the south podium.
Next up was Brie Bennett in heat 12. Starting off with a small right hander she got a score of 3.17 then a bigger but more challenging left hander, a solid wave that kept on giving she surfed all the way into the pier throwing in a nice forehand turn for good measure, with a heat score of 6.37 she was able to advance through the 3-person heat. In what seemed to be challenging conditions for all girls it was Teresa Bonvalot of Portugal who eventually came through the low scoring affair to win with a heat total of 13.5.
Advancing through to round two Brie was to come up against surfers from Chile, Spain and Peru in heat 5 of the Open Women. Unfortunately, as had been the theme for start of the round the conditions did not allow for much scoring potential, and so again the heat turned into a small wave fest with the eventual winner Daniella Rosas of Peru catching seven waves with less than half of them being above a 2-point ride. Unfortunately, the lack of waves and trying conditions got the better of Brie and she has been relegated to the repechage round 2 heat 6 tomorrow around 7:50am (NZST)
Taranaki local Natasha Gouldsbury was next to hit the water at Huntington in heat 24 on podium two. Entering the water there was slightly more energy in the ocean in which Natasha capitalised on, getting busy she scored a multitude of rides in the three-point range, not enough to knock Yolanda Hopkins of Portugal from the top spot but enough to keep Puerto Rican Mia Calderon at bay and secure herself a spot in round two.
With momentum building and challenging conditions Tash knew it was anyone’s game, it would come down to being in the right position when a set came through in the 1.0m to 1.5m sea breezy conditions. Had it been any other wave starved heat Tash would have breezed through with a 4.3 and a 3.3 but an unexpected and short-lived pulse halfway through the heat meant a flurry of scores in the four to six range were put on the board.
As the ocean went flat again Tash was left agonizingly close to progression only needing a 3.58. Unfortunately, the ocean did not provide, and Tash will surf again in repechage 2 heat 11 alongside teammate Ariana Shewry. “It felt good to make it through my first heat”, she said, “I am really disappointed about my second heat though, all I needed was a 3.5 and I know I had that in me, the conditions were tough, I feel as though I haven’t shown much of my surfing yet so hopefully, I can show it in the next heat”.
With a lay day for the men tomorrow there will be another full day of women’s surfing with Brie surfing around 7:50am (NZST). Natasha and Ariana will surf in the same heat at approximately 9:30am
Further heats for all three surfers are subject to progression.
Olympic Qualification
The ISA World Surfing Games is an important event for many teams hoping to get into the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.” In a significant innovation to the Olympic Surfing Qualification System, the winning men’s and women’s National Teams at these World Surfing Games will be allocated one Olympic slot each for their respective country/National Olympic Committee (NOC).
This qualification slot will be in addition to the maximum quota of 2 athletes per country for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Fierce competition is expected for this potential third slot for the top teams.”
About International Surfing Association (ISA)
The International Surfing Association (ISA) is recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the World Governing Authority for surfing, bodyboarding, SUP and surfriding. It was originally founded as the International Surfing Federation in 1964 and has been running world championships since 1964, and the Junior World Championships since 1980.
The Live Stream can be found Here https://isasurf.org/event/2022-isa-world-surfing-games/
The schedule can be found Here https://isasurf.org/event/2022-isa-world-surfing-games/
The event is being broadcast live over the net via www.isasurf.org. Media releases relating specifically to the New Zealand team’s performance will be distributed throughout the event.
For further information regarding the New Zealand Surfing Team please contact Ben Kennings at Surfing New Zealand 07 8250018, 0212278732 or email benkennings@surfingnz.co.nz.
Imagery
High resolution action images of team members will be available to media free of charge upon request.
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