South Coast products Sam Zustovich and Ali Day headline the 30-person Australian surf lifesaving open's and pathway squad announced on Monday, which will look to retain its crown at the 2022 world championships in Italy.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Georgia Miller (Northcliffe) spearheads the squad following an impressive Australian championships campaign where she claimed nine gold medals and was awarded female competitor of the carnival in 2021.
The Australian team also welcomes back nine other previously capped team members including Kiama product Ali Day (Surfers Paradise) - who last competed on the world stage in 2018, Kendrick Louis (Manly) and Harriet Brown (Northcliffe).
2021 ironwoman series champion Lana Rogers (Alexandra Headland) will also be on the hunt for her first Australian capped tour when she competes at Riccione.
Miller and Brown will be joined in the water and on the sand by fellow Northcliffe club mates Matt Bevilacqua and Jackson Symmonds.
Both surf sports stars were 2018 world championship representatives with Symmonds recently securing his sixth open male beach sprint title at Aussies 2021.
Previously capped Australian team members Elizabeth Forsyth (Currumbin) and Bree Masters (Kurrawa) will join Symonds on the sand and have dominated female beach competition over the past number of years.
Among other international lifesaving events cancelled or postponed, the 2020 world championships cancellation saw a number of youth athletes not able to represent their country last year in the underage competition.
Even without this opportunity, a number of these athletes have made the jump into open and pathways squads highlighted by Zach Morris (Newport) along with star beach athletes Isabellah Walker (Cronulla) and Sam Zustovich (Mollymook) - who is fresh off his maiden national open men's beach flags title.
Morris will be mentored by his three Newport clubmates as part of the open squad with Lizzie Welborn, Jemma Smith and Jackson Borg who along with Northcliffe has the largest representation amongst these squads.
An impressive group of 13 ocean and beach athletes make up an Australian pathways squad, which will be coached by former Mollymook product Melissa Cracroft-Wilson - with members being identified with the potential to represent the green and gold at future world championships in 2024 and beyond.
The Sunshine Coast Branch sees strong representation among this group of athletes with Alexandra Headland duo Tayla Halliday and Emma Woods making the step up from youth squads and will be joined by Maroochydore athletes in Hayden Cotter, Tiarnee Massie and Adam Palmer.
Sophie Watts (City of Perth) and Cloe Griffiths (Seacliff) represent an impressive group of beach athletes from Western and South Australia who will be looking to further push their case for international representation once competition resumes.
The 2022 world championships campaign has already seen the cancellation of Sanyo Cup 2021 (Miyazaki, Japan) and International Surf Rescue Challenge 2021 (Daytona Beach, United States) as international travel restrictions and mandatory quarantine periods remain in place stemming from the global COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2022 world titles, which will also see Warilla-Barrack Point's Bailey Krstevski represent the national youth team, are still planned to go head in Riccione, Italy however the situation will continuously be monitored as COVID-19 restrictions evolve following further vaccinations in Australia and the world.