Subject to being nominated and accepted for the New Zealand Olympic team, Billy and Saffi will take on what is without doubt the most daunting and unique wave in the world – Tahiti’s notorious Teahupo’o, the only 2024 Olympic Games venue outside of France.
Surfing NZ CEO Ben Kennings says the funding allocated to the sport as one of HPSNZ’s aspirational sports has been very valuable.
“The funding allowed us to support Billy and Saffi at the qualifying event in El Salvador and meant we were able to send experienced coaches and a manager with them.”
“Qualifying was a very important step on the road to Teahupo’o and planning and preparation will be critical for them to take on, or take off on, the biggest wave in the world,” says Ben.
The unique wave requires a very specific skillset for surfers. “In technical terms, there is very narrow scope to train for the left hand break, hollow wave that is simply massive.
“Our surfers will need to train in Tahiti to prepare for the death-defying waves. Safety will be paramount and Billy and Saffi will need a huge amount of mental strength to be courageous and brave enough to take on Teahupo’o.”
HPSNZ and Surfing NZ will continue to partner to understand the athletes needs as they prepare for the pinnacle events, including the campaign debrief process following the ISA World Surfing Games in El Salvador.
HPSNZ Performance Team Leader for Surfing NZ, Katherine Oberlin-Brown, says “the debrief process will help to understand where the gaps and opportunities are in planning the campaign, preparing, and executing on the world stage, along with exploring how data can be used to identify where our athletes sit compared with other Olympic surfers.”
