World champion Stephanie Gilmore will headline Australia's team to compete at the World Surfing Games in Japan next month.
Gilmore is part of a strong Australian line-up for the event at Miyazaki from September 7-15, which contributes towards qualification for surfing's debut at next year's Olympic Games.
The seven-time world champion is joined in Australia's team along with Julian Wilson, Owen Wright, Ryan Callinan, Nikki Van Dijk and Sally Fitzgibbons.
The tournament is an important step in determining who will line-up at Tokyo 2020 where a field of 20 men and 20 women will compete at next year's Games.
Each nation will be able to select a maximum of two surfers of each gender to represent them at the Olympics.
Australia's Olympic representatives are likely to be drawn from the World Surf League end-of-year rankings with the men's top 10 and women's top eight all qualifying automatically for Tokyo 2020.
But to be eligible to compete, all surfers have to take part in either this year's or next year's World Surfing Games - making Australia's selections important for determining who is eligible for Olympic selection.
Along with Australia, the United States has named a strong line-up for the event with 11-time world champion Kelly Slater joining tour surfers Kolohe Andino, Conner Coffin, Carissa Moore, Courtney Conlogue and Caroline Marks.
Slater's spot in the team was only made possible by John John Florence's season-ending knee injury as the 47-year-old tries to keep his Olympic dream alive.
The teams will compete along with representatives from Brazil, Japan, France and South Africa in an Olympic-style team event.
Athletes compete individually but earn points towards their overall team total with the team earning the most points crowned the World Surfing Games champion.
Australian Associated Press
