The final showdown of the 2022 Australian Open of Surfing Tour (AOS) presented by Volkswagen – Bondi Open Grand Final is set to be held this Saturday 15 October. Iconic Bondi Beach will provide a natural stage for competitors to put on their final performance of the 2022 AOS Tour, providing plenty of entertainment for spectators.
The one-day winner-takes-all event will showcase the top 16 men and women qualifiers from the combined two event series and Bondi Boardrider local wildcards as they vie for a huge $30,000 prize pool on offer.
The 2022 AOS Tour hosted by Surfing Queensland and Surfing NSW, inaugurated a non-traditional heat-format with surfers best single-wave score making up their final heat placing rather than two-waves.
Women’s top qualifier, Sunshine Coast surfer Sasha Baker (Coolum Beach)said she’s really enjoyed the AOS Tour and the different approach it’s made her take to competitive surfing.
“It’s been a great challenge mixing up the heat strategy and focusing on a single score,” said Baker. “I’m really looking forward to surfing at Bondi and of course it would be nice to win. The $10k would be a huge help to bolster my career.”
The AOS tour included two qualifying events, The Bonsoy Coffs Harbour Open (24-25 September) and the Sunshine Coast Open (1 October), with the top 16 qualifiers from the two events being invited to compete at the Bondi Open.
The prize pool for the AOS tour is $50,000, a significant amount provided to support professional and aspiring Australian surfers in their campaign to qualify for the World Championship Tour.
Lennix Smith (Barrack Point)is entering the Grand Final as the second seed in the mens division and is excited to compete at the iconic Bondi Beach.
“It’s been such a fun tour to be apart of not only because of the good vibe but with the new structure of only having your highest wave scores to get through each heat,” said Smith. “This has brought a new playing field changing the mind set of everyone’s game so I thought that was really cool. The prize pool of cash is also crazy. There’s so much cash to be won which has definitely made everyone hungry to win.”
Competition will get underway at 7:30am on Saturday and will wrap up at 1pm. Bondi Beach Road Hotel will be hosting the AOS presentation with live music to follow the surfing action at 2pm.
The 2022 Australian Open of Surfing Tour presented by Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is supported by Gage Roads, Bonsoy, Tracks Magazine, Oakberry, Mad Mex (official webcast partner) and Waverly Council.
2022 Australian Open of Surfing Tour
Qualifier One, Bonsoy Coffs Harbour – September 24 – 25, 2022
Qualifier Two, Sunshine Coast Open – October 1, 2022
Grand Final, Bondi Open – October 15, 2022
Grand Final
Bondi Grand Final Open, 15 October 2022
Prize Money Breakdown: Equal Men and Women
1st Place $10,000.00
2nd Place $1,000.00
3rd Place $750.00
4th Place $500.00
$250 for all Grand Final competitors who do not place
