Manly Beach will be the venue for Australia's rising Olympic hopefuls from four Olympic sports when more than 300 athletes take part in Australian Open of Surfing from Saturday 25 February – Sunday 5 March and 200 athletes participate in Volleyfest from Friday 17 March – Sunday 26 March. The Australian Open of Surfing will feature Whale Beach's surfing up-and-comer, Cedar Leigh-Jones who has Olympic Gold in her sights. She said, “Surfing's inclusion in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games is a dream come true for my sport.
I'll have the opportunity to compete against other Olympic hopefuls at Manly's Australian Open of Surfing, and I can't wait to see what I'm up against to achieve my dreams.”
The Australian Open of Surfing will also feature skateboarding, ahead of its inclusion in the Olympic Games, including 16-year old professional skateboarder Poppy Olsen who is determined to represent Australia at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. She said, “I'm all about encouraging more girls to skate and can't wait to try out the new custom-designed concrete terrain park during the Vans Park Series at the Australian Open of Surfing. I've seen some of the design renders and it looks pretty cool.”
The Australian Open of Surfing at Manly will welcome world-class surfers including 2016 women's world surfing champion Tyler Wright and Aussie surfing superstar Julian Wilson alongside reigning International Skateboarding Federation (ISF) park terrain World Champion Alex Sorgente and contest hopefuls Chris Russell and Curren Caples.
Not only will visitors enjoy world class skateboarding and surfing, they can also see Australia and the world's best volleyball players compete when Volleyfest, Australia's biggest beach volleyball competition since the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games takes place in March.
Destination NSW, CEO Sandra Chipchase said Manly was one of the State's most iconic destinations. She said, “Manly will host three Olympic disciplines in just four weeks. Visitors and fans will get to watch top athletes in an exciting beach location that offers high quality restaurants, waterfront hotels and a range of visitor attractions. These events offer a great reason to visit NSW and explore Manly.”
