Twenty-four athletes will race for South Africa in the national team events in Gqeberha. Here's how they got there: the time standards, the trials, the squad and the final cut, pieced together from what head office sent out, plus the questions it leaves open.
Not everyone racing in Gqeberha was "selected". The Worlds run national team championships and interclub championships side by side, and you get into each a different way. This page is about the first.
Four squads of six (Open women, Open men, Youth women, Youth men), picked by LSA's national selectors and racing in the national team events, 2 to 6 December.
You can't enter yourself. You get there by performing at the trials and being chosen.
Clubs enter their own athletes in open, youth and masters age groups, plus surf boats. Head office sent entry information to affiliated clubs in June (74/26).
To race, every South African competitor needs a current award (110/26):
Duty hours don't count for the Worlds, but they will for the 2027 SA Championships.
In August 2025 head office published qualifying times for the season (116/25). They're pegged to the last Worlds, so they tell an athlete exactly how far they are from an international final.
Example: Youth women, 200 m obstacle swim. Shorter bar = faster time.
These standards are for the pool. Surf racing is head-to-head on changing water, so there's no time to hit. The surf squad was picked on "the performances achieved throughout the season" (67/26), with juniors who excelled in senior races also included in the senior squad.
OPEX and HP times for the season go out to provinces and clubs, "in line with the LSA Selection Policy". 116/25 →
The DHL SA National Lifesaving Championships, at Newton Park pool and King's Beach in Gqeberha: the same venues as the Worlds. It's the main selection event. 191/25 →
Head office names a Worlds squad, "subject to change" after the Inter-Provincials "at the discretion of the National Selectors". A further group of athletes is invited to the Inter-Provincials in Durban so selectors can see more racing. For them:
Pool and surf Inter-Provincial Championships in Durban: the last racing before the cut. 65/26 →
The squad "from which the team will be selected". Two changes of note: only athletes eligible to represent South Africa are included, and age groups now follow the world rules, so anyone turning 19 this year is measured against senior standards. Earlier in May head office had said the team would follow within 14 working days "due to certain circumstances"; it took a little longer. 72/26 →
Six athletes per squad, each with a captain, plus five coaches and three managers. 78/26 →
The team goes to the LSA AGM for ratification (agenda item 12.8.1). This is the one point in the process where members, through their delegates, get a say. AGM guide →
Every squad was cut to six. The youth women's squad was the biggest and the hardest to crack, one in four; the youth men's was the smallest, better than one in three.
The open team is listed on our Worlds page. Most of the youth squads are under 18, so we don't name them here; the full lists are in the circulars.
Sources: Circular 72/26 (squad) and 78/26 (team).
Five coaches (head, surf, beach and strength, head pool, assistant pool) and three managers (team and logistics, surf, pool) were named with the team. In 2025 head office called for applications for national touring team management, sent through provincial HP managers (85/25). The circular text doesn't say whether the Worlds staff were appointed through that call or separately.
The circulars show the steps. The text of the emails doesn't show how the decisions inside those steps were made. Some of the answers may have been in attachments (policies, forms, letters) that went out with the circulars but weren't kept, so these are questions, not accusations:
None of this suggests the selections were wrong. Clear, published answers would let members check the process and let athletes see exactly what they're aiming at. Several of the questions in our AGM guide, for candidates standing for the Board, are about exactly this.
If you have the LSA Selection Policy or any of these answers, or know where they're published, tell us and we'll update this page.