Published 13 August 2026

Surf Life Saving Australia and Royal Life Saving Society Australia are proud to announce the 24 members of the Australian Life Saving Team set to compete at the Lifesaving World Championships (LWC) in South Africa later this year.

Following the conclusion of the Australian Pool Rescue Championships in Adelaide on Sunday, selectors for Surf Life Saving Australia (SLSA) and the Royal Life Saving Society Australia (RLSSA) have named the 12-person Open and 12-person Youth teams to represent Australia at the LWC beginning in November.

Following the conclusion of the Australian Pool Rescue Championships in Adelaide on Sunday, selectors for Surf Life Saving Australia (SLSA) and the Royal Life Saving Society Australia (RLSSA) have named the 12-person Open and 12-person Youth teams to represent Australia at the LWC beginning in November.

Hosted in Port Elizabeth, South Africa from November 25 – December 13, the LWC will see Australia seek to defend their overall Open and Youth titles, both won on home soil at the 2024 World Championships held on the Gold Coast.

The Open team features a host of familiar faces to surf sport fans, including Iron Series athletes Callum Brennan, Lily O’Sullivan and Naomi Scott, alongside reigning Australian Open Ironman champion, Ethan Callaghan.

A former Youth team member, Callaghan is set to make his debut in the Open team, alongside fellow debutant Payton Williams, with the pair to be formally presented their ALT number, team cap and blazer in South Africa later this year.

Both the Open and Youth teams feature a mix of experience and fresh faces, with Chelsea Jones, Naomi Scott, Harrison Hynes, James Koch and Jake Smith to reunite in the hunt for back-to-back Open championships, while Bianca Rayward will make her second World’s appearance after helping Australia to claim the Youth title two years ago.

Australian Life Saving Team National Open Coach, Zayne Hamill said:

“The depth [of the Australian squad] across all of the disciplines is really strong. We’ve had a great pool of athletes to choose from, and they’ve put their best foot forward the last two years in the ocean, on the sand and in the pool.

“We’re looking for great athletes, but also great people – people that fit in well with a team environment, and can contribute and uphold the values, as well as putting their best efforts in as far as performance goes.”

Speaking about the challenge of finding the right balance across a number of disciplines, Hamill said versatility would be crucial to Australia’s success

“World’s is its own unique competition. It covers a lot of different disciplines, and you only have a certain number of athletes that you can pick to make sure you do well across all of those different events, so getting the balance right is probably one of the biggest challenges.

“While people may be phenomenal in one or two events or disciplines, World’s calls for versatility, so it’s great to see people in the process leading up to and then actually in competition, doing things that are really challenging for them and are outside of their normal scope. To be a great World’s team member, that is a very big part of it."

On the honour of representing Australia, Hamill said it is a privilege that the team doesn’t take for granted.

“I think representing your country – in whatever field that may be – is the ultimate honour, and certainly to do so with Australian Lifesaving is a real privilege. I feel very grateful to have the opportunity as a coach and know all of the athletes do as well. Wearing the green and gold is something that is really special.”

Australian Life Saving Team Chair of Selectors, Shayne Baker OAM said that selectors were looking for athletes who could contribute across multiple disciplines, while representing the very best of Australian lifesaving.

“What we know, particularly for Worlds, is that we need competitors who are multi-skilled, and then we are looking at how those skills can complement others and cross-over.

“We really want to have Australian representatives that do represent the best of our community and the best of our culture, so we want to encourage people in terms of their behaviour and their respect, ensuring that it is at the highest level.”

Speaking about the honour of pulling on the green and gold as a national representative, Baker said the emotion would be felt strongly by the team.

“One of the rewards we have as selectors, and for those of us involved with the representative team, is the emotion you can witness from both the athletes and their families. They really get a sense of emotion when they get there with all of the other countries, they see the Australian flag and hear the anthem first play.

“In terms of our approach to the competition, our athletes are always reminded of being respectful, being humble and not leaving anything in the pool, in the ocean or on the beach.

“We go hard and we celebrate because the national pride does come through quite strongly – the energy it produces, we could use it instead of electric cars.”

Sanctioned by the International Life Saving Federation (ILS), the World Life Saving Championships are the pinnacle for lifesaving sport events, across the pool, ocean and the beach, with the LWC held internationally every two years.

Bringing together more than 50 countries from around the world, the LWC26 will see the best lifesavers in the world go head-to-head in competition, in the hunt for ultimate glory.

National Open Team

National Youth Team

Media Contact
Jessica Supple
Public Relations Manager, Surf Life Saving Australia
E: jessica.supple@sls.com.au
Ph: 0400 280 691