Dunedin surfer JC Susan is included in a strong New Zealand team for the World Surfing Games late next month.
The event will take place at Popoyo, Nicaragua, and will attract up to 150 athletes from 30 countries.
Susan is the most recent New Zealand representative, having placed 16th when the event was held in Peru last year.
The South African-born surfer has been part of the New Zealand team for the past three events and will lean on his experience to break into the top 10 this year.
The New Zealand team will be led by four surfers competing in the World Surf League qualifying series.
Paige Hareb and Ella Williams will be the two women in the team, while Billy Stairmand and Matt Hewitt will be joined by Susan and former junior representative Dune Kennings in the men's team.
Hareb and Williams have tasted success at the event in recent years, Hareb finishing runner-up in 2010 and Williams placing fourth in 2013.
Both Hareb and Williams are competing in the qualifying series with the aim of securing a place on the world tour for 2016. Hareb has started the year well and is ranked sixth, while Williams is 25th.
The women will use the World Surfing Games as part of their build-up for their next major qualifying event, the Los Cabos Open in Mexico, which starts two days later.
It is the opposite for Stairmand, who will contest two major events in California and Brazil over the next six weeks before heading to Nicaragua.
Stairmand and Hewitt last represented New Zealand at the World Surfing Games in 2013.
Kennings is the youngest surfer in the team at 19.
He will add some excitement to the team, with his surfing having been exceptional during the summer domestic season.
The New Zealand team is ranked 10th in the world but will be looking for significant improvement in Nicaragua.
A top-seven finish will see the team gain an invitation to the China Cup, where it has the opportunity to compete against the top surfing nations from around the globe.
New Zealand surfer Ricardo Christie eliminated joint world No1 Filipe Toledo from the Margaret River Pro in Western Australia on Thursday.
Christie, competing for the first time this year on the elite 32-man world championship tour, beat Toledo in a second round heat by 13.26 to 13.07.
Toledo is the form surfer on the tour, winning the opening event and backing that up with a quarterfinal effort.
Christie had suffered two 25th results to slip to 31st in the rankings.
Christie is from Gisborne but has a Dunedin link. His stepfather is Otago surfing identity Graham Carse, who runs the Quarry Beach surf shop.
NZ surfing
The team
Open men: Billy Stairmand (Raglan), Dune Kennings (Whangamata) JC Susan (Dunedin) Matt Hewitt (Mt Maunganui); non-travelling reserve, Zen Wallis (Piha).
Open women: Ella Williams (Whangamata), Paige Hareb (Taranaki).
