Kiwi surfer Ella Williams has provisionally qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics securing the Oceania slot after placing the highest of the Oceania surfers at the ISA World Surfing Games.

Williams will be part of an exclusive group of twenty female surfers from around the world that will attend the first-ever Olympic surfing event in July next year.

'It has definitely been a big high of emotions especially when I found out that I had claimed a spot in the 2020 Olympics. It's always been a dream of mine to be there now it's becoming a reality," she says.

'I feel so proud to be a Kiwi and to represent New Zealand on the world stage."

Williams started the day with crucial performances required in the repechage rounds to push her Olympic cause.

'I knew I had to make the two heats at least to have a fighting chance. But I just tried to put that out of my mind and get through heats and knew the rest would follow,” she says of the scenario hanging over her head all day.

Williams convincingly advanced through two heats with wins to get into the all-important Round 5 and the top thirty surfers in the event. In a rollercoaster ride of a day, her journey ended there after getting caught inside the break with solid 1.5m – 2.0m typhoon waves hammering the coastline. She finished fourth in the heat and 29^th equal overall.

The International Surfing Association took several hours after William's result to confirm she had provisionally qualified with detail in the qualification process being analysed.

The provisional nature of the qualification is due to the multiple routes a surfer can qualify for the Olympics.

Paige Hareb has three remaining events on the 2019 World Tour to push her cause for qualification. The 2020 World Surfing Games is the final opportunity for athletes to qualify.

Female athletes can do so by finishing in the top six surfers that have not already qualified via the World Tour or 2019 World Surfing Games.

The 2020 World Surfing Games takes precedence over the 2019 edition meaning two good performances by Kiwi surfers could bump Williams out of her Oceania slot.

Williams started the day alongside her two Kiwi teammates in Paige Hareb (Tara) and Raiha Ensor (Mnt). Ensor advanced through her first heat of the day but came up short in her second performance finishing third in her heat to Sarah Baum (ZAF) and Ornella Pellizzari (ARG).

Ensor finished with a 7.60 point heat total and only required a small 4.83 point ride to advance. Ensor finished 33^rd overall at the event.

Paige Hareb also contested Repechage Round 4 and was vying for the Olympic qualification by advancing out of the round.

Hareb came up against fellow World Tour surfers and USA teammates Courtney Conlogue and Carissa Moore who she had defeated in the qualifying rounds. However, this time it would not go Hareb's way in a close battle. In the dying stages of the heat,

Hareb surfed to a 4.07 point ride, just short of the 5.01 required to advance, leaving her in third place with less than two minutes remaining on the clock. Hareb finished 33^rd equal with Ensor.

The New Zealand Women's results see New Zealand sitting in the eleventh position in a tight bunch of nations.

USA and Australia lead the 55 nations competing with all their surfers alive in the event. The final of the Women's Division will be completed today with the Men's event commencing after the finals.

Ricardo Christie, Billy Stairmand and Kehu Butler will start their campaign for gold and also another chance to represent New Zealand at the Olympics by emulating the performance of their teammate.

The International Surfing Association (ISA) World Surfing Games presented by Vans is being held at Miyazaki from 7-15 September. A total of 55 nations and 240 surfers are competing at the event this week.

Please see results for the Kiwi surfers on day three of the 2019 ISA World Surfing Games presented by Vans held Monday 10th September.

Women's Repechage Round 3
Heat 1
Lorena Fica (CHI), 13.33, 1, Raiha Ensor (NZL), 8.43, 2, Paige Alms (CAN), 6.16, 3, Leila Takeda (MEX), 4.24, 4
Heat 3
Ella Williams (NZL), 10.83, 1, Teresa Bonvalot (POR), 9.70, 2, Lucia Indurain (ARG)7.76, 3, June Erostabre (SUI), 4.84, 4

Women's Repechage Round 4
Heat 2
Sarah Baum (ZAF), 12.67, 1, Ornella Pellizarri (ARG), 9.0, 2, Raiha Ensor (NZL), 7.6, 3, Noah Klapp, 5.77, 4
Heat 3
Ella Williams (NZL), 9.0, 1, Taina Hinckel (BRA), 8.9, 2, Tia Blanco (PUR), 7.06, 3, Sara Wakita (6.70), 4
Heat 6
Courtney Conlogue (USA), 12.17, 1, Carissa Moore (USA), 8.43, 2, Paige Hareb (NZL), 7.5, 3, Josefina Ane (ARG), 5.67, 4

Men's Division Round 1 (Begins Tuesday)
Heat 10
Billy Stairmand (NZL), Ramon Taliani (ITA), Cristian Calderon (GUA), Jared Gogue (GUM)
Heat 18
Kehu Butler (NZL), Angelo Bonomelli (ITA), Amos Rivera (GUA), Oliver Hartkopp DEN)
Heat 26
Ricardo Christie (NZL), Roberto D'Amico (ITA), Efren Aguilar (GUA), Shane Pier (GUM)

Day 4 Schedule (Tuesday 10th September) – live webcast
3:35pm – Billy Stairmand – Men's Round 1
5:00pm – Kehu Butler – Men's Round 1
6:25pm – Ricardo Christie – Men's Round 1

World Surfing Games Schedule
September 10 – Open Men commence plus Open Women
September 11 – 14 – Open Men's continues and Aloha Cup
September 15 Open Men's Final and Closing Ceremony

Olympic Qualification
The Olympic qualification process starts with the World Surf League (WSL) where ten males and 8 females on the 2019 World Tour will directly qualify for Tokyo 2020. No more than two athletes per nation can qualify via this process.

The top ranked male and female from the Oceania Region at this year's event will qualify for Tokyo 2020. The selections will then need to be ratified by the New Zealand Olympic Committee before being confirmed.

Athletes have a further chance to qualify for the Olympics at the 2020 ISA World Surfing Games where the final four males and six females in each division will be determined by the top placing athletes at that event.

View the full Olympic qualification system.