Paige Hareb is set to return to the World Surf League Championship Tour. Photo / WSL
After a three-year slog on the World Surf League qualifying series, Kiwi Paige Hareb is set to return to the Championship Tour.
Hareb spent six seasons competing against world's best from 2009 and 2014 before having to battle to reclaim her spot.
Now, after years of waiting, her hiatus was about to end.
The Taranaki surfer will surf in her first heat back on the sport's biggest stage when the Championship Tour gets underway on the Gold Coast on Sunday.
Hareb had drawn a tough heat first up, facing off against last year's runner-up Sally Fitzgibbons, of Australia, and Silvana Lima of Brazil. Hareb recently eliminated Lima in a qualifying series event.
Armed with a new quiver of boards, she was one of two new faces to join the tour full-time this season, alongside rookie American Caroline Marks.
But the two come into very different scenarios. Hareb could be deemed a seasoned veteran of the tour despite her three-year absence, while Marks was already guaranteed the Rookie of the Year award as the only competition in her first season.
Australian Macy Callaghan has also been given a chance to compete, with American Courtney Conlogue being forced to withdraw due to a fracture in her foot.
Callaghan was in a tight battle against Hareb for the final qualification spot last season, but the Kiwi was able to secure it.
The competition window opens on Sunday at Snapper Rocks, however the event is not guaranteed to start on the same day.
Unlike many qualifying series events, Championship Tour competitions have a longer window so they are able to wait for the best conditions.
The Kiwi goes into the event on with some good form, too. Last week she claimed third place at a QS6000 event in Manly to sit seventh on the overall qualifying series standings.
Fellow Kiwi Ella Williams also did well in Manly and was hoping to take her form with her when she travelled to Martinique and Barbados for two qualifying series events which overlapped with Championship tour events.
"I finally got through my first heat and it was good to get through that one because it was like the pressure was off and I could just go out and surf," Williams said.
"The QSs are always going to be tough but it definitely helps that those tour girls are on tour for these next two."
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