In the freestyle category, any other bomb technique than the manu is welcome.
The Manu World Champs organisers said they recognised the role of Māori as tangata whenua of Aotearoa New Zealand and embraced Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Z Energy said they were working with tangata whenua and were holding the event in accordance with the Wai Puna model, a theory of Māori water safety developed by Dr Chanel Phillips (Ngāti Hine, Ngāpuhi), co-director of Te Koronga Indigenous Science Research Themes.
Six official qualifier events will take place at Tauranga, Hastings, Nelson, Māngere, Whangārei and Christchurch.
From each of these events, the winners of each category qualify for the Manu World Champs Grand Final, in Auckland, on March 1.
There will also be super qualifier events held in Wellington, Hamilton and Auckland.
From each of these events the top two in the Kids’ manu division and in the freestyle division as well as the top three in the youth and adult manu divisions, qualify for the grand final.
Competitors may only enter each qualification event once.
At the super qualifiers, they can qualify for the grand final in the manu as well as the freestyle division as long as they entered one heat only.
Should competitors have entered more than one heat, the results of the first heat will be considered.
Anybody born after March 2, 2017 is under the minimum age to participate.
For more information visit the Manu World Champs website.
