USA Surfing names Bryan, Moore, Lindblad, Colapinto, Marshall, and Houshmand to the USA ISA World Games team as the road to the LA28 Olympic Games begins
SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. (October 15, 2026) — USA Surfing is proud to share the six athletes who will represent the United States at the 2026 ISA World Surfing Games, November 6–15 at Punta Rocas, Peru, launching the first chapter of USA Surfing’s qualification race for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
The U.S. surfing team arrives in Peru with serious momentum. The all-star roster features the top three women as ranked on the World Championship Tour; Gabriela Bryan, Carissa Moore, and Sawyer Lindblad. Griffin Colapinto, Cole Houshmand and Jake Marshall will represent on the men’s side. The group includes a current world #1, an Olympic gold medalist, multi-time Olympians, multiple 2026 World Surf League Championship Tour event winners, and four surfers with deep roots in San Clemente and Lower Trestles.
They will be coached in Peru by head coach Ryan Simmons, Brett Simpson, and East Coast coaching lead Morgan O’Connell. Those three will be working closely with High Performance Director Tracy Axel. Simmons, Simpson, and Axel, along with Bryan and Colapinto were on the team when the USA won the extra spot in 2022 with Kirra Pinkerton’s win. The team is ready to keep the dream rolling.
These six athletes were selected based on their current World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour rankings, in accordance with USA Surfing's 2026 ISA World Surfing Games Athlete Selection Procedures.
The mission in Peru is bigger than any individual athlete. "It’s a huge honor to represent the USA, and I’m excited to come together with this team and make our country proud,” said current world number one Bryan. “There’s something special about competing for your country. I’m going into this event focused on surfing my best, having fun, and backing myself when it counts. We’ve got an amazing team, and we’re ready to give it everything!”
Under the LA28 qualification system, the 2026 ISA World Surfing Games will award one Olympic quota place to the highest-ranked men's national team and one to the highest-ranked women's national team. Those quota places are earned by the National Olympic Committee, Team USA, rather than directly by an individual surfer.
USA Surfing's goal across the 2026 and 2027 ISA World Surfing Games is to maximize the number of Olympic quota places earned by Team USA, with the potential to field a maximum of three men and three women in Los Angeles.
“Our number one goal is to earn the qualification spot for Team USA in both the men's and women's divisions and put ourselves in the strongest possible position to bring a full three-man, three-woman team to LA28,” said Greg Hulsizer, CEO of USA Surfing. “We're bringing an incredibly talented group to Peru, but this is bigger than any one athlete. We're competing for the United States. We have multiple opportunities over the next two years to build our Olympic team, and every one of them matters.”
Gabriela Bryan enters the World Surfing Games as the No. 1-ranked woman in the world and one of the defining surfers of the 2026 Championship Tour season.
Bryan and fellow USA Surfing teammate Carissa Moore have repeatedly traded the WSL Yellow Leaders Jersey throughout the season, with Bryan reclaiming the top spot following a runner-up finish at the Lexus Trestles Pro. Bryan advanced to the Trestles final after defeating fellow U.S. team member Sawyer Lindblad in the semifinals, setting up another major result at the wave that will host Olympic surfing in 2028.
The 24-year-old Hawaiian will be pursuing her first Olympic Games appearance as part of the U.S. campaign toward LA28.
Carissa Moore brings Olympic Gold and World Championship pedigree to the U.S. team.
A five-time WSL World Champion and Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medalist, Moore returned to the Championship Tour in 2026 and immediately re-established herself among the world's best.
She captured the Corona Cero New Zealand Pro in May and followed that up immediately with another win at the Surf City El Salvador Pro this season, where she’d won her last WCT event in 2023 before becoming a mom. Moore and Bryan, who are close friends, have spent the season trading the yellow leader jersey back and forth.
Moore now brings her experience as a two-time Olympian and gold medalist into USA Surfing’s qualification campaign, this time with the goal of helping Team USA secure a maximum number of spots for LA28.
Sawyer Lindblad enters Peru after a breakthrough 2026 season that saw the San Clemente native capture her first WSL Championship Tour event victory at the VIVO Rio Pro in Brazil.
Lindblad defeated Tya Zebrowski in the final at Saquarema for her first CT win after three previous runner-up finishes. She followed the victory with a deep run at Lower Trestles, reaching the semifinals of the Lexus Trestles Pro.
Raised in San Clemente, Lindblad grew up surfing and training in the community surrounding Lower Trestles, the future home of Olympic surfing, and will be chasing her first Olympic Games appearance.
Griffin Colapinto brings Olympic experience and a strong late-season run to the men's team.
“Pretty excited to make my way down to Peru in November with my teammates, who are also my friends,” said Colapinto. There’s a lot on the line down there, and I’m looking forward to our team bringing home both golds, along with those bonus spots. Gonna be a fun battle!”
The San Clemente native and former Olympian reached the final of the 2026 Tahiti Pro, and locked in three other third place finishes this season starting at Bells Beach, then New Zealand, and most recently in Fiji. Colapinto's back-to-back deep runs put him among the leading performers on the Championship Tour heading into the final stretch of the season.
A longtime Lower Trestles standout, Colapinto represented the United States at Paris 2024, held in Tahiti. Now he joins a new generation of USA Surfing athletes pursuing the opportunity to represent Team USA on home soil.
Cole Houshmand arrives in Peru on one of the hottest runs of any surfer in the world.
The San Clemente native captured the 2026 Fiji Pro at Cloudbreak, defeating three-time World Champion Gabriel Medina in the final in powerful surf. The victory marked Houshmand's third Championship Tour event win in three CT Finals appearances, over the last three years.
The goofy footer followed the Fiji victory with another deep run at Lower Trestles, reaching the semifinals of the Lexus Trestles Pro.
Houshmand's rise through the sport also represents the USA Surfing pathway in action. A former USA Surfing ISA Junior Team captain, he came through the organization's junior program before reaching the Championship Tour and establishing himself among the world's elite.
Jake Marshall rounds out a men's team loaded with momentum and deep USA Surfing roots.
“It is always such an honor and privilege to represent team USA, and I can’t wait to compete alongside my fellow teammates in our first step towards the 2028 Olympic Games!” said Marshall. “I’m looking forward to putting my best surfing forward to secure the third Olympic spot for Team USA!”
Raised just south of Lower Trestles in Encinitas and a product of the USA Surfing program from his earliest competitive year, Marshall arrives in Peru following his win at the 2026 Lexus U.S. Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach.
The victory was Marshall's first WSL event win, a major milestone after years of competing at the highest levels of professional surfing. Marshall then advanced to the quarterfinals of the Lexus Trestles Pro, where he faced fellow USA Surfing team member Houshmand.
Together, the six athletes represent a U.S. team arriving at the World Surfing Games with a combination of world-ranking pedigree, recent WSL victories, Finals Day momentum, Olympic experience, and deep ties to the USA Surfing program.
The strength of the Peru roster reflects an evolution in USA Surfing's high-performance program, with greater resources and support being directed toward America's top surfers as LA28 approaches.
USA Surfing has focused not only on individual athlete performance, but also on creating a stronger sense of team around America's elite surfers.
“We're working hard to create more support around and for our athletes, but also more incentive and team cohesion to rally for the USA,” said Tracy Axel, Director of High Performance for USA Surfing. “These athletes are competing against each other on the Championship Tour, but when they put on the USA jersey, they become a team. Our job is to give them the resources, preparation, and environment to perform at their highest level and to feel that they're part of something bigger than themselves. That team connection is a powerful piece of what we're building toward LA28.”
The road to LA28 carries particular significance for this U.S. team, and four of the six athletes have a very close connection to the wave where the Olympic Games will be decided.
Sawyer Lindblad, Griffin Colapinto, Jake Marshall and Cole Houshmand all grew up in or near the San Clemente area, surfing Lower Trestles regularly throughout their development. Lower Trestles is the training ground, proving ground and home break for USA Surfing juniors, giving the U.S. team a unique familiarity with the wave that will host Olympic surfing in 2028.
That local knowledge provides a unique home-field advantage as the team begins its Olympic qualification campaign and looks ahead to the Games in its own backyard.
For Colapinto, Lindblad, Marshall and Houshmand, the opportunity to qualify for their first Olympic Games at a wave they grew up surfing would bring their careers full circle.
“There's something pretty special about having four of our six athletes come from the San Clemente area and have spent so much of their lives surfing Lower Trestles,” said Coach Ryan Simmons. “They know that wave, they know the conditions and they know what it means to surf there. Having that familiarity in our backyard is a real advantage, but first we have to earn our way to LA. That's what this team is going to Peru to do.”
The 2026 ISA World Surfing Games represent the first ISA World Surfing Games event in the LA28 qualification pathway.
At Punta Rocas, national teams will compete for one LA28 Olympic quota place in the men's division and one in the women's division. The quota is earned by Team USA, not by an individual surfer.
The United States will have an additional opportunity to earn an Olympic quota place through the 2027 ISA World Surfing Games.
USA Surfing's objective throughout the process is to maximize the number of quota places earned by Team USA and ultimately field the strongest possible U.S. Olympic team at Lower Trestles.
Competition begins November 7, with the USA Surfing athletes joining the competition in Round 3 on November 11 under the new ISA event format allowance for WCT athletes.
WATCH TEAM USA COMPETE IN PERU:
https://www.youtube.com/@ISAsurfing
Follow USA Surfing: @usasurfing
Follow the ISA: @isasurfing
Photos courtesy of ISA Surfing, WSL, and Getty
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