Founders’ Cup of Surfing: Stephanie Gilmore to lead Aussie charge at Surf Ranch
MULTIPLE world champion Stephanie Gilmore will lead Australia in a Davis Cup-style surfing tournament in a wave pool in the US in May against the best surfers in the world.
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MULTIPLE world champion Stephanie Gilmore will lead Australia in a Davis Cup-style surfing tournament in a wave pool in the US in May against the best surfers in the world.
The sport enters uncharted waters with the first major teams event for surfing being contested at Kelly Slater’s Surf Ranch with Australia taking on US, Brazilian and European teams along with a composite world team.
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After testing the format in secrecy last year, the Founders’ Cup of Surfing will be run by the World Surf League at California’s Surf Ranch with each team comprised of three male and two female surfers.
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While Gilmore heads the Australian team, Slater himself will captain the US while former world champion Gabriel Medina heads the team from Brazil, Johanne Defay the team from Europe and Jordy Smith the united world team.
The event will be the first time the Surf Ranch — boasting a man-made, 700-yard (640m) bi-directional wave featuring barrel sections and manoeuvre sections — will be open to the public.
“As someone who has competed in probably every competition format there is, the Founders’ Cup region-versus-region, co-ed format is really intriguing to me,” Slater said.
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“I think May is going to be a great showcase for the world’s best surfers at the facility.”
Gilmore is also a fan of the wave pool after surfing it last year.
“The facility and the wave at Surf Ranch is amazing,” said the six-time world champion.
“It’s such a fun wave to surf and really high performance.”