Brisbane 2032 Olympic bid: shake-up for 2024/25 iron surf series, sponsor, venues, format, prize pool
New life has been blown into surf life saving’s iron series with a new backer and a cutthroat format to help develop a new wave of medal-ready athletes for surf’s Brisbane 2032 Olympics push.
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New life has been blown into surf life saving’s iron series with a new sponsor, potential new venues in NSW and Queensland, a bigger prize pool and a cutthroat format to help develop a new wave of medal-ready athletes for the sport’s Brisbane 2032 Olympics push.
Surf Life Saving Australia will also expand fields in a move expected to attract a wave of teenage talent to the series as part of sweeping changes to the famous ironman and ironwoman series held each summer.
The series has a new naming rights sponsor in Shaw and Partners for three years - replacing Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain - and eight additional slots for both female and male athletes - for part of the season at least.
The International Life Saving Federation is campaigning to be a new sport on the Brisbane 2032 Olympic program
By now exposing more athletes - many of them teenagers at the right age for a Games tilt - Australia will be in a good position for medal success at the home Olympics if the push for inclusion is successful.
Series champion Ali Day said the move will provide extra opportunity for the young guns of the sport to step up, gain experience and make a name for themselves.
“These kids who might get in now, the 17 or 18-year-olds, they will be the prime age for 2032,” Day said. “It will be exciting to see.”
Teen Connor Maggs is already making a splash in the sport at just 18 but welcomes the door opening for more young guns and loves the idea of a more cutthroat format.
While all details are still to be confirmed, including dates and final venues, the prize pool with be well up from last season’s $325,000 and in excess of $400,000.
It is also known that in a major change, the series champions will be decided in a finale rather than by a cumulative points system and that a number of athletes will be eliminated after the first and second weekend of racing (four events) and again after the fifth event, leaving a field of just eight to fight for the 2024/2025 series victory on the third weekend of the event.
“Next generation athletes like me will be a perfect age for Brisbane if we are lucky enough for it to happen,” said Maggs, who won eight gold medal at last year’s Australian titles.
“But I also like the elimination aspect. It’s means no matter who you are, who your name is or your record, you are still a chance of winning the series.”
Venues may also be different from last summer but all racing will be held in NSW and Queensland.
The professional iron series has been backed by Kellogg’s/Nutri-Grain for almost four decades in one of the longest sponsorships in Australian sport.
Shaw and Partners, which already has a presence in surf circles, backing the Summer of Surf Series.
“What a fresh look and to have Shaw and Partners aboard is huge for our sport. I can’t wait,” said former series multiple champion Georgia Miller.
“This is my 10th year and it’s so exciting to be able to change things up. Plus it’s exciting that we will see so many new faces.
“These young ones are snapping at our heels already. I would be so happy if they got to race at an Olympics.”
Day and Lana Rogers are the defending series champions with athletes, including Rogers, making headlines earlier this year when they raced to help save around 30 swimmers in distress at Bondi beach just minutes after their racing finished.
“It sounds very exciting,” Rogers said. “Things do need to keep evolving to keep people interested and I’d love to see more spectators in the beach and watching it on TV.”
All athletes, from the first ones culled from the opening weekend, will earn some prizemoney, but the breakdown has yet to be finalised.
Along with prizemoney, the ironman and ironwoman champion after the finale will win a Isuzu MU-X courtesy of surf craft company Race One.
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