The Indigenous Australian grew up idolising Steph Gilmore and Tyler Wright. Now she has them – and an Olympic gold – in her sights
Leihani Zoric, 13, grew up watching Australian surfers dominate on the world stage. Stephanie Gilmore, the greatest female surfer of all time, and Tyler Wright, a two-time World Surf League champion, were among her idols.
“When I was little I always watched their surfing,” she says. “They inspired me in and out of the water.”
This week in Peru, at the International Surfing Association (ISA) World Surfing Games, Zoric will get her turn on the world stage. Her childhood inspiration will be there, too.
Zoric, Gilmore and Wright form the Australian women’s national team at the Olympic qualification event, a stop on the road to Los Angeles 2028. “It’s pretty cool to get to hang out with them,” the teenager says.
Zoric, a Yued girl from Broken Head in New South Wales, has enjoyed a meteoric rise in recent months. In September, the surfer represented Australia at the ISA junior world titles. Having failed to qualify for the under-16 category, the year eight student was given a wildcard into the under-18 division – and won.
“I was the youngest person in the Australian team,” Zoric says. “It was amazing when I won, especially because I became the youngest ever [junior] world champion.”
Having barely processed her world title, Zoric was then selected for the senior national team, alongside WSL regulars Gilmore, Wright, Ethan Ewing, Liam O’Brien and George Pittar. In Peru, with Australia vying for an additional team spot in the Olympics, Zoric will be competing against surfers twice her age (or more – Gilmore is 38). But the youngster is undaunted.
“I’m taking it as an opportunity to get to surf against these girls, and hopefully beat them,” she says. “They’re all very good surfers, but I believe that anything is possible. I back my abilities and my skill – I’m not nervous, I’m more excited to have an opportunity to show them how I surf and prove that I can surf against people like that.”
Zoric will be 15 by the time the Los Angeles Olympics come around, still only midway through her high school studies. But having won the junior world title, earning a spot in Australia’s senior team and recently releasing a mesmerising short film from the Maldives, she sees no reason to stop looking ahead.
“My number one goal for the next few years is to go to the LA Olympics and win gold,” she says.
If the Australian team do well in Peru, an additional team spot might open up an opportunity for Zoric; surfing’s Olympic qualification pathway is complex, but some spots are reserved for WSL competitors. “It’s all part of the process, and each step is hopefully going to lead to winning gold at LA,” she adds.
Despite her youth, Zoric is already a trailblazer. Her recent ISA win made her Australia’s first Aboriginal world surfing champion, while she has twice won the Australian Indigenous Surfing Titles. Recently Zoric was named junior ssportsperson of the year at the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sports Awards.
“It means so much to me because my culture is a huge part of my identity,” she says. “It has shaped me as a person, who I am, and as an athlete as well.”
Zoric recalls telling her kindergarten teacher that she was going to become the first Aboriginal surfing champion. “To have accomplished that is amazing,” she adds. “I’m so proud to be a proud Yued girl.”
Soli Bailey has previously surfed in the WSL wearing both an Aboriginal and Australian flag, something Zoric is keen to replicate. “My goal is to have the Aboriginal flag and the Australian flag on my jersey,” she says. “I’m already so proud of what I have achieved, but I want to take it to the next level, keep improving, keep achieving things, keep breaking records. So when I get to the WSL one day, to have both my flags on me, it would mean so much.”
The WSL looms large as a goal for Zoric, which will mean an arduous qualification route through regional qualifying and the second-tier Challenger series. Zoric identifies 2029 – when she will be 16 – as a potential first year on the WSL. “But it’s a long process, so I’m just taking it one step at a time and staying in the present,” she says.
While Zoric’s junior world title came at an unusually young age, the sport is no stranger to young prodigies. Erin Brooks and Caitlin Simmers have been WSL regulars well before turning 20, while Tya Zebrowski made her tour debut this year aged just 15. But Zoric says she is in no hurry.
“I want to go on the world tour, but I don’t want to just go there to make up the numbers,” she says. “I want to go there and be world No 1 in my first year, win events, win world titles. I don’t want to be there to participate, I want to be there to dominate. If it doesn’t work out and I don’t qualify [immediately], then I’m happy to take extra time.
“I don’t want to rush things, I don’t want to get there and be like, ‘I’m not ready to surf 10-ft Teahupo’o, I’m not ready to surf Pipeline.’ I want to go there and know I can be the best in all conditions, in all breaks all around the world.”
But whatever happens in her burgeoning surfing career, she already has a plan B: “If surfing doesn’t work out for me, I want to be a doctor.”
