ISA World Surfing Games 2022: Youthful China look towards future after impressive showing

A few countries come to mind when one mentions "surfing". Brazil, Australia, South Africa, the USA, Japan, and France are among them.

China isn't normally on the list – but that could be changing. Armed with an extremely young team at the 2022 ISA World Surfing Games in Huntington Beach, California, the country has made history.

The team's youngest member, 13-year-old Yang Siqi, became the best-performing Chinese surfer in the event's history when she reached the fifth repechage round in California, finishing 29th.

And while surfing is not yet popular across most of China, Yang and her teammates are out to change perceptions both at home and abroad of the sport and Chinese surfing.

With South African coach Wade Sharp in charge, the current team – who were first put together only in 2018 – hopes to soon make a dent in the global surfing consciousness.

"They're very dedicated to their sports and they take their training seriously," Sharp told Olympics.com's Ash Tulloch in Huntington Beach.

"Just in a short amount of time, how much their level has grown within the sport of surfing, I think a few years down the road, you're going to see China right up in the top earning medals, just like all the other countries."

Coach impressed with fast learners

Sharp certainly has the pedigree to help lead the young Chinese surfers. He was in charge of Team Japan last year at their home Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, which saw Kanoa Igarashi and Tsuzuki Amuro win men's silver and women's bronze respectively.

He has also worked with South African World Surf League athletes like Jordy Smith and the Costa Rican national team.

But with all his experience, even he has been impressed with what he has seen from his new charges, with whom he's worked for barely a month.

"China is a new country to the sport of surfing and all the team members that are here… it's the only country, team, that actually has a full team existing of junior athletes – every athlete is under 18 years of age.

"I think in the short period of time, just working with them like a month leading up to the event, just a lot more coordination in the water, on where to sit, line-up positioning, wave choice, and then obviously on a technique side, putting in the right manoeuvres in the right space. And that's definitely a movement I can see that's transpired."

Chinese surfing set back by pandemic

It hasn't all been smooth sailing for the six-strong team, which includes Yang, Jiang Shuge, and Wu Yaomei on the women's side and Jiang Shulou, Wang Qixiang, and Wu Zihao on the men's.

China's strict restrictions surrounding the Covid pandemic means the team has not been able to train in the best conditions since the global outbreak of the virus in early 2020.

Head coach Wang Xiaofei explained: "Our athletes have only trained for four years, and due to the pandemic we didn't go abroad in 2020 and 2021 and only had training in China."

That meant training in limited windows in the southern Hainan Province, which is not able to produce the same wave conditions as would be found in Japan, Bali, Hawaii, or California.

"This reality affects our athletes' progress a lot," Wang Xiaofei added.

One to watch: 13-year-old Yang Siqi

In Huntington Beach, the six Chinese surfers all made it to at least the second-round repechage, with Yang reaching the fifth-round repechage.

Yang, who finished fourth in her fifth-round repechage heat, has been surfing since she was nine.

"I started surfing since 2018," she explained. "I was so scared about it at the very beginning, but after getting through that period, surfing has made me pretty happy.

"It was cool that I managed to compete in the fifth repechage, I've learnt quite a lot from other surfers."

Sharp believes Yang has what it takes to be special.

"Siqi is 13 years of age, and she obviously competed here under the open women's category, achieving a result right up in the top end of the draw and getting the furthest out of all of the Chinese athletes… Just shows you and proves to you that the potential is there.

"Throughout all that training, I did notice that she was super dedicated. She spent a lot of time in the water, and I'm very switched on when it comes to relaying information to her. She absorbs like a sponge and that goes straight out back in the water and tries exactly what you put forward.

"I think she has a super rad future."

Long-term future for Chinese surfing

Given the team's age, while making it to the Olympic Games Paris 2024 is a goal in Huntington Beach (the event acts as an Olympic qualifier), most eyes are on Los Angeles 2028 when the current team will be in their late teens.

"Our athletes are very young, around 13-14 years old," coach Wang pointed out. "We still have six years to go until LA28, I believe that our athletes could improve a lot in terms of technique. Our goal for LA 2028 will be ranking into the top 8 of the Olympic Games."

That's something Sharp, too, believes is possible.

"It's a very fresh young team. You have really great results as a junior team participating in open events. I see a bright future with the way they dedicate, how much training they do and the focus they have.

"You're going to definitely see the climb of surfing for China in the near future."