ISA World Surfing Games 2025: Athletes to watch
Almost 300 athletes from 61 countries will compete at the 2025 World Surfing Games, including 22 Olympians.
From these, Kauli Vaast of France will undoubtedly be the one in the biggest spotlight. The Paris 2024 champion finished fifth at the 2023 edition on the same waves and moved up to third place last year in Puerto Rico. With Olympic gold and podium finishes on the Championship Tour as a wildcard already to his name, a World Surfing Games title is one of the few things the 23-year-old surfer is still missing.
His younger sister Aelan Vaast will also be in action in El Salvador. The 2024 national champion, she is one of France’s big hopes heading into the next Olympic Games as sport veterans like Paris 2024 bronze medallist and new mother Johanne Defay slowly edge away from competitive sport.
While all eyes will be on Kauli Vaast in the men’s competition, Sally Fitzgibbons is a top contender for the women’s title. Hoping to round off her count to a formidable five, the surfing veteran will also use her extensive knowledge of the sport to guide Australia to a team title. With a solid lineup of promising youngsters and surfers with Championship Tour experience, such as Morgan Cibilic and Callum Robson, that team title looks to be a real possibility for Australia this year.
Unless, of course, Peru have anything to say about it. The South American surfing powerhouse won the team title in Surf City El Salvador in 2023 and are bringing a solid team to the competition again with four Olympians on the roster: Lucca Mesinas, Alonso Correa, Sol Aguirre and Daniella Rosas.
Mesinas was the individual runner-up in 2023 while Aguirre was fifth in 2024.