For immediate release 
19 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
Highs and Lows for Kiwis on Opening days of Competition
The New Zealand Surfing Team has had a rocky start to their World Surfing Games campaign. In the opening heats two of three surfers successfully surfed to the second round before all being relegated to the repechage rounds.
After a long day participating in the opening ceremony, the three men were the only surfers to compete with the girls on hold until the 19th when the World Surf League (WSL) QS3000 Nissan Super Girl Surf Pro powered by Celsius concludes.
In small 1.0m waves, many surfers struggled to find waves with good scoring potential however Caleb Cutmore (Raglan) surfed to a 6.77 earning himself a second-place finish, only going down to QS Superstar Lucca Mesinas with an outstanding 16.07 heat total. “If you got the waves there was some scoring opportunity but if not, it was fading into a gutter really quickly”. “It did not offer much of a section” Caleb added of the typical Huntington Beach conditions.
An inform Daniel Farr of Taranaki also surfed to a second-place finish in the first round with a heat total of 7.84 only narrowly defeated by Guilherme Fonseca of Portugal.
Mount Maunganui’s Jack Hinton, on debut at his first international competition put up a strong battle against his opponents from Poland and Venezuela however was unable to turn the tide in the challenging conditions earning himself a 6.04 and a third place sending him into the repechage round.
Next up saw the return of the Open Men with round 2 entering the water. Caleb Cutmore, hoping to mirror his earlier performance was let down by the ocean with 20 minutes going by in a flash with minimal waves and even less scoring potential. Despite the tough conditions he surfed to a 4.3 heat total ending up in third place.
In what was a low scoring affair Spanish surfer Adur Amatriain and Chilean Surfer Guillermo Satt managed to scrape together winning scores narrowly taking first and second respectively. “Yea, my second heat was pretty disappointing” Cutmore said of the second-round match up “to give you an idea, there was one set in 20 minutes, one guy didn’t even catch a wave”. “I’ll use what I learnt today going into the repechage, it just means there’s a bit more strategy involved rather than just catching waves and keeping it simple”
Daniel Farr followed suit in his second-round heat struggling to find any real scoring potential in trying conditions.
With Jack Hinton relinquished to the first round of the repechage, or the last chance round as it’s known. It was all or nothing for the Bay of Plenty local who threw everything he had into his “last chance” heat stunning the crowd with a 10.83 and a first-place finish, an outstanding performance for someone on their first international outing “I changed up my boards this time round and they felt magic” he said on his stellar performance. Unfortunately, his second repechage heat didn’t quite go to plan and bowed out of the competition. “My first ISA World Surfing Games was such a cool experience, surfing against different countries and going up against some of the best in the world has been incredible”. The atmosphere around the event and down the beach has been one to remember and I feel so honoured to have represented New Zealand at the event, it’s been a great experience and its certainly not over yet”.
Caleb surfed next in the first heat of repechage 2, dominating his opponents and surfing to a winning 10.43 heat score. “Yesterday I got knocked out of the main round and surfed my first repechage today. I was stoked to win that heat and hopefully it will give me a bit more confidence to surf to my potential” With the ISA World Surfing Games being his first international event for some time he added “I have been feeling a bit of added pressure and nerves, but that just comes with competition. Calebs next heat will be repechage 3 heat one.
Daniel Farr Image ISA
The final surfer to return to the water for the day was Daniel Farr. “The team we’ve got this year has such a good vibe we have this amazing energy, it’s awesome to be around” he said as he headed out for his first repechage heat. Feeding off the Kiwis energy and Calebs stellar performance Daniel blew his competitors out of the water in the again challenging, lumpy conditions. Mastering the Huntington hop he got on the board early with a 5-point ride before securing his win with a small back up.” Something that’s stuck with us since we got here is “flow like a sting ray, and fight like a hammerhead” and that’s what we’re trying to do throughout this event. We’ve all got that relaxed flow state majority of the time, but when we’re at the beach and in the water it’s time to grit our teeth and fight like the hammerhead”. A fighting spirit that both he and Caleb will need as they head into the third round of the repechage in a day’s time.
With the conclusion of the Supergirl Pro, day four of the event will see Natasha Gouldsbury(Taranaki), Brie Bennett(Raglan) and Ariana Shewry get their campaign underway.
Ariana Shewry will start the women off in heat 21 podium 2 at 3:50am. Taranaki surfer Natasha Gouldsbury will be next in heat 24 podium 2 4:50am, Raglan surfer Brie Bennett will be the final surfer of the round in heat 12 podium 1 at 6:10am. 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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