Tirrenia, Italy – In only their second appearance at a Fédération Internationale de Pêche Sportive-Mer (FIPS-Mer) Long Casting of Sea Weights World Championship, the USAngling Surf Casting Team captured silver medals in the team event.
The FIPS-Mer “Worlds” is an annual international surf casting tournament where top athletes from around the world compete on a large grass field for the longest distances reached using (modified) surf fishing tackle. This World Championship adheres to a strict set of international competition rules, as well as World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) health guidelines. Including travel, ceremonies and practice, the event is a week long where, on each competition day, the competitors cast a specific sinker weight. According to athletes who attended this year’s World Championship, it was the most competitive field of casters in the last decade.
This year’s American team was led by team Captain Ryan Lambert of Angier, North Carolina. Other team members included United States record-holders Conner Brown (Myrtle Beach, SC) and Will Nash (San Antonio, TX). Daniel Nassiff (Danbury, TX) rounded out the roster for a highly experienced United States team. The group was accompanied in Italy by team Vice President Carlos Gonzalez, Jr.
Each competition day brings a new weight class challenge for the athletes: 175g (6.17 oz), 150g (5.29 oz), 125g (4.40 oz), and 100g (3.52 oz). During the first two days of competition, Daniel Nassiff and Will Nash anchored the team to the top half of the competitors, while giants Conner Brown and Ryan Lambert were the advance guard, securing rankings inside the top 10. Brown’s 150g cast of 272.54m (894.16 ft) bested the overall American record, scoring a third-place finish for the second day.
As athletes tied 100 gram sinkers onto their lines on the last day of competition, even greater achievements were in store. On a back-and-forth day of enormous casts, Ryan Lambert finally stepped up to the oche on the fourth round of casting and launched his sinker 278.92m (915.09 ft), surpassing casters from Argentina and Brazil and securing the first 900+ ft cast ever for an American caster. In the end, it was Lambert who also stepped off the field as the new world record holder for the 100 gram sinker.
Final World Championship Rankings
| Rank | Nation | Team Rank* | Team Score | Crack-Offs/Out of Bounds |
| 1 | Argentina | 1, 1, 1, 2 | 5 | 11 |
| 2 | United States | 3, 2, 4, 1 | 10 | 17 |
| 3 | Italy | 2, 3, 3, 3 | 11 | 20 |
The United States Surf Casting Team is proudly supported by Bass Pro Shops, Century Fishing, Carolina Cast Pro, Redfish Bay Marina, Texas Surf Masters, Reel Kustom Reels, One More Cast, Hatteras Jack, and from the generosity of individual donors.