Special coverage presented by the International Surfing Association 

There are five teams that, according to DUKE, appear as favorites to win the world championship, all with pros and cons, but with what is necessary to win the most prized trophy of the competition that will take place between December 5 and 15 in Punta Rocas, Peru.

They are: Australia, Brazil, Japan, Hawaii and Peru.

The favorites and why:

Australia
They are defending champions and are traveling with their top-tier heavyweight athletes. Not only are Ziggy McKenzie and Milla Coco Brown, who were champions and medalists last year respectively, but the rest of the team is also strong.

Australia also benefits from the fact that waves like Punta Rocas suit their surfing style well; all Australians are good point wave surfers, and importantly, they travel with all the comforts and support necessary to win a championship of this type.

Brazil
The reality is that Brazil has a large disparity between its men's team, which can fight for medals—watch out for Kailani Renno and Arthur Vilar—and its female counterparts, who are a proportionally lower step.

But Brazil has grit, a strong technical team, and a lot of experience in the ISAs.

Furthermore, with Punta Rocas breaking small (which is expected in the last few days), they may give us something to talk about.

They are not a clear favorite to win, but they can be a thorn in anyone's side at any time.

 

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Japan
Because they're quiet and compete in other leagues, the Japanese fly under the radar, but this year they're traveling with an extremely talented team. They have a couple of beasts who can do backflips on 20-centimeter waves and a host of other crazy stunts.

They are, as is known, extremely focused and professional, and what can clearly work against them is the fact that the surfing will be done on powerful, point waves, and it will not be the acrobatics that the judges are looking for most, but the achievement in the same line of powerful and radical maneuvers.

On the other hand, on more than one occasion Japan arrived in first place on the final day and the pressure overwhelmed them at key moments.

 

 

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Hawaii
Although Hawaii is traveling with stars but not with the original starting team, it has more than enough talent to rank among the favorites and more than one player who can win a medal.

A balanced team is key to victory.

Here, the winner isn't the one who gets a medal, but the one who gets the whole team to make significant progress in addition to winning some medals.

One of the keys to putting Hawaii on this list was also that historically the Hawaiian relationship with Peruvian waves is very good… Leaving aside the wetsuit, they feel at home because there is power and there is perfection.

And they have a special coach in Sebastian Zietz and also in Jason Shibata.

Peru
It's impossible for the locals not to be on this list, and it's not just because they're locals and know this wave well, but mainly because they know how to surf perfectly according to the criteria the judges want to see in a tournament like this: Clean surfing in a line, attacking the critical part.

The Peruvians know how to identify the good ones in Punta Rocas, which is one of the keys to victory, and they have several heavyweight talents capable of winning more than one medal.

The division where they stand out and are likely to go the furthest is the Under-16 girls' category: Catalina Zariquiey, Sofía Artieda, and Brianna Barthelmess. If they win gold, silver, and bronze, in any order, no one should be surprised.

Yes, there are some disparities, such as the fact that the very talented Valentina Escudero, who is Under 14, is competing in the Under 18 women's category. She certainly has what it takes to beat a good portion of the competitors.

With a very likely very good performance in the Under 16 that will most likely bring world medals to Peru, the fight that will define if they win the championship trophy as in 2013 will take place between the men.

In which there is abundant talent but which is just as hungry as the rest of the powers.

Alejandro Bernales has the talent to win a medal in the Under 18 category.