THE Aussie women continued their early dominance on Sunday for rounds one, two of the main draw at the 2019 ISA World Surfing Games, with all three big guns in Stephanie Gilmore, Nikki Van Dijk and Gerroa's Sally Fitzgibbons easily winning through their early-round encounters.
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Van Dijk top-scored in round two with a combined heat total of 16.33 points, including an electric 9.00 point ride that had her teammates cheering from the beach at Miyazaki, Japan.
Fitzgibbons and Gilmore scored 13.10 points and 14.33 points respectively to comfortably advance through their round two heats before they meet in heat 55 of round three late this afternoon.
Van Dijk continued her good form in heat 1 of round three with a heat total of 9.23 points in testing onshore conditions to advance to round four.
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The men's side of the competition, featuring Culburra Beach's Owen Wright, Ryan Callinan and Julian Wilson, is set for a start on Tuesday, September 10 at this stage but is subject to change.
According to the Olympic qualification system, the top 10 eligible men and eight women, maximum two per country, at the end of the 2019 WSL CT season, will earn qualification slots for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
This end-of-year ranking will also be used to determine who is nominated to be members of their national surfing teams at the 2020 WSG.
The 2019 ISA World Surfing Games is also an Olympic Surfing qualifier itself, awarding Tokyo 2020 slots on a continental basis to the top finishing eligible man and women from Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania.
The Americas' qualification slots will be determined at the Lima 2019 Pan American Games in July.
The event window ends on September 15.
