Two-time World Surf League champion Tyler Wright insists she will be ready to represent Australia at the Olympics next month, despite her withdrawal from the latest WSL event in Brazil, which has forced Surfing Australia to put in place standby arrangements.
Wright, who overcame a battle with post viral syndrome in 2018 to return to elite surfing, and more recently had seven screws inserted into her head to improve her breathing, was scheduled to compete at the WSL Rio Pro this week. But last week the organisers announced that the world No 9 would be absent due to an unspecified injury.
The South Coast surfer is due to represent her country at the Olympics in late July, as part of an Australian team that includes Molly Picklum, Jack Robinson and Ethan Ewing. The surfing competition will be held at the fearsome Teahupo’o wave in Tahiti, French Polynesia. It is the second time the sport has featured at the Games, after surfing made its debut in Tokyo three years ago, when Wright’s brother, Owen, won a bronze medal for Australia.
The Rio Pro got under way on Wednesday in Brazil without Wright in the line-up, but a spokesperson for the surfer told Guardian Australia she would be fit for Paris 2024. “Tyler has been advised by her doctors and specialists that she needs some treatment and would prefer her sitting out Brazil,” the spokesperson said. “Tyler will be 100% ready for the Olympics.”
Wright has had a mixed WSL season to date, finishing runner-up at the third stop of the tour in Portugal, and reaching the semi-finals at the Margaret River Pro. But she failed to progress through the elimination round at the most recent event in El Salvador. Her absence from the Rio Pro means that even victory for Wright at the last event of the regular season, in Fiji, is unlikely to secure her a place in the WSL Finals.
While Wright’s representatives insist she will ready for the Olympics, Surfing Australia have put other athletes on standby in case an injury replacement is needed, in the event Wright does not return to action or another surfer cannot compete.
The International Surfing Association replacement policy allows alternative representatives for qualified nations provided there is “sufficient time” for the change to take place.
“As such, we have Sally Fitzgibbons and Ryan Callinan on standby with a fully flexible flight booked to arrive 24 hours prior to the event window,” said Eric Haakonssen, Surfing Australia’s performance support and podium manager. “If the event looks likely to start later in the window, we will adjust those flights to depart later just in case.”
Fitzgibbons, 33, is a three-time runner-up at the WSL, and competed at the Tokyo Olympics, losing in the quarter-finals. Callinan is currently ranked 15th in the world, and will compete in Brazil this week together with Picklum, Robinson and Ewing.
