Golden girl grabs wildcard in bid to revive Olympic dream
Australian surfing star Sally Fitzgibbons will compete as a wildcard at the World Surfing Games as she aims to earn selection for the Paris Olympics via a left-field avenue.
Wide World of Sports can exclusively reveal that Fitzgibbons and Australian young gun Morgan Cibilic have attained wildcards for the World Surfing Games, to be held at Puerto Rico in the Caribbean across February and March.
The tournament at Arecibo, a municipality on the north coast of Puerto Rico, will serve as the final opportunity for Olympic qualification.
Tyler Wright and Molly Picklum have already secured the two Olympic women’s spots available to Australia through the 2023 World Surf League Championship Tour rankings.
Australia’s Ethan Ewing and Jack Robinson will join Wright and Picklum at the Olympic surfing competition in the Tahitian village of Teahupo’o, having snapped up the two men’s spots on offer through the 2023 rankings.
Australian surfing star Sally Fitzgibbons has snared a
If Australia is to be granted an additional quota place for the Olympic women’s event, the women’s team at the World Surfing Games must win gold.
Surfing Australia’s high-performance team would then be tasked with deciding which athlete takes the third spot. Fitzgibbons, India Robinson and Isabella Nichols are among the potential candidates.
Likewise, Australia must win team gold in the World Surfing Games men’s tournament if it’s to take three male surfers to the Olympics. Cibilic, Ryan Callinan and Connor O’Leary are among those who could get the call-up.
Australian surfing young gun Morgan Cibilic is set to contest the World Surfing Games at Puerto Rico in the Caribbean.
Fitzgibbons and Stephanie Gilmore, who’s now an eight-time world champion, competed in the women’s event at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. Fitzgibbons, a former world No.1, bowed out in the quarter-finals and finished equal fifth as surfing made its Olympic debut.
The World Surfing Games will be held between February 22 and March 3.
Australia will be represented by Wright, Picklum, Ewing, Robinson, Fitzgibbons and Cibilic.