PUNTA ROCAS, PERU — Five South African surfers are in Peru to fly the flag at the 2026 ISA World Surfing Games. The opening ceremony takes place on Friday, 6 November at the Punta Rocas High Performance Centre, with the first heats scheduled for Saturday, 7 November and finals day set for Sunday, 15 November.
Jessie van Niekerk, Louise Lepront and Natasha van Greunen will represent South Africa in the Open Women’s division, while Luke van Wyk and Ntokozo Maphumulo will compete in the Open Men’s division. Isaac February is the South African Team Manager.
Jessie van Niekerk won the 2025 Cape Town Surf Pro at Long Beach, Kommetjie, securing her place on the World Surf League (WSL) Challenger Series. Born in Cape Town, she splits her time between South Africa and Australia and brings both Challenger Series and previous ISA experience to the team in Peru.
Louise Lepront of Scottburgh won under-16 bronze at the 2024 ISA World Junior Surfing Championship in El Salvador and returned there to represent South Africa at the 2025 ISA World Surfing Games. She also qualified for the 2025 WSL Challenger Series alongside Van Niekerk.
Natasha van Greunen won the 2022/23 WSL Africa Qualifying Series title and took victory at the 2025 Vic Bay Surf Pro. The Cape Town surfer returned to Victoria Bay in 2026 and reached the semi-finals.
Luke van Wyk earns his first South African cap at Punta Rocas. The Cape Town surfer, who names Elands Bay as his favourite break, counts third-place finishes at WSL Qualifying Series events in Port Alfred and Victoria Bay among his career highlights.
Ntokozo “Surprise” Maphumulo represented South Africa at the 2022 ISA World Junior Surfing Championship in El Salvador and captained the junior national team in Brazil in 2023. The Durban surfer, who names New Pier as his favourite break, also won the junior division at the 2023 Seal Point Pro.
Isaac February leads the delegation in Peru as South African Team Manager. He will coordinate the team’s day-to-day arrangements at Punta Rocas and support the five surfers as they prepare for and compete in their heats.
The Games mark the first opportunity for nations to earn surfing quota places for the LA28 Olympic Games through ISA competition. The highest-ranked men’s team and the highest-ranked women’s team will each earn one Olympic quota place for their nation.
Surfing South Africa wishes the entire team all the best in Peru and invites everyone back home to get behind our surfers from their first heats.
Watch the opening ceremony live and follow the heat draws and results on the official ISA World Surfing Games event page.
ENDS.
About Surfing South Africa
Surfing South Africa is the official National Federation for the sport of surfing in South Africa. SSA is a member of the South African Confederation of Sport and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) and is recognised as the governing body by the National Department of Sport, Arts and Culture.
Surfing South Africa is responsible for the development of the sport, the hosting of National tournaments, the sanctioning of all International events and the selection of National teams in all the disciplines that are part of SSA. SSA is a member of the African Surfing Confederation (ASC), Union of the Indian Oceans Surfing Federations (UIOSF) and the International Surfing Association (ISA), the World governing body for the sport.
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