Emily Rampoldi: North Cronulla’s Sprinting Triplet Making Her Mark on the Sand

By [Author] | Track & Field / Surf Lifesaving

There are unique sporting stories, and then there is the story of the Rampoldi triplets of North Cronulla. Emily Rampoldi — one of three sisters who grew up on Sydney’s southern beaches, trained by their own father, and who collectively became one of the most recognisable families in Australian surf lifesaving — is carving out her own identity within that larger narrative. A naturally gifted sprinter with an increasingly serious commitment to the track, Emily has spent her life chasing flags on the sand and, more recently, chasing personal bests on the oval. The two pursuits, it turns out, feed each other perfectly.

Born Into a Sprinting Family

Emily Rampoldi was born on April 27, 2001, in the Sutherland Shire of Sydney, New South Wales — one of three daughters born simultaneously to Tom and Lisa Rampoldi. Emily and her sister Leah are identical twins; their sister Alexandra, known as Alex, is non-identical. The three girls grew up in the beachside suburb of Cronulla, where the surf lifesaving culture is not merely a weekend pastime but a way of life, and where their father Tom would go on to become one of the most decorated beach coaches in the country.

From a young age, the Rampoldi household was defined by sport and sibling competition. In addition to their surf training, the three girls were active gymnasts — competing at state level in NSW — and also played soccer and oztag. Their mother Lisa once described the home as “a very busy, loud and fun household,” a sentiment that anyone who has watched all three sisters compete on the same patch of sand could easily believe.

The discipline required to manage gymnastics, surf training, and multiple other sports simultaneously gave the Rampoldi girls a physical foundation that would serve them well for years to come. From a young age, they trained four hours a day, four days a week — developing the explosive power, body control, and fast-twitch athleticism that beach flags and beach sprint demand in abundance.

The Family Club and a Father’s Coaching

North Cronulla Surf Life Saving Club — known locally as “the Chargers” — became the sporting home of all three sisters. The club, nestled in the Bate Bay precinct on Sydney’s south side, has a strong tradition in beach events, and under Tom Rampoldi’s guidance as beach coach it has developed into one of the premier flags and sprint programs in New South Wales.

Tom, who coaches alongside strength and conditioning specialist Damien Bulian, was recognised in 2022 with the NSW Surf Lifesaving Coach of the Year award — an honour that speaks to not just the results his athletes achieve, but to the quality of the technical environment he has built at North Cronulla. His daughters have been at the heart of that program throughout, and Emily’s development as a competitor has been shaped directly by his methods, which place a heavy emphasis on technical precision, physical conditioning, and the kind of mental composure required to perform in knockout-style beach flags competition.

Youth Career: The 2017 Aussies Moment

The moment that first brought the Rampoldi triplets to national attention came at the 2017 Australian Surf Lifesaving Championships, held at Coolangatta on the Gold Coast. It was, by any measure, an extraordinary day in the history of Australian surf lifesaving.

All three sisters — Emily, Leah, and Alex — qualified for the Under-17 women’s beach flags final, competing alongside a fourth North Cronulla girl, Ashleigh McDonald, who shared the same April 27, 2001 birthday as the triplets. Four girls from the same club, all born on the same day, in the same final. The beach was buzzing. Alex and Leah raced off for the gold medal with Alex taking the title, while Emily finished sixth overall in what was just her first major national championship appearance.

The story did not end there. Alex, then only 15 years old and in her first season of Open-age competition, went on that same afternoon to win the Open women’s beach flags title as well — becoming the youngest ever winner of the event. Emily and Leah, watching from the sidelines, had a ringside seat to one of the most dramatic individual performances the Aussies had seen in years.

For Emily, the result — sixth place in the Under-17 final — was a respectable debut at the national level, but it also planted a seed of competitive ambition. With sisters as measuring sticks and a father as coach, there was never any shortage of motivation to improve.

International Debut: Lifesaving World Championships 2018

In November 2018, Emily made her international debut when North Cronulla Surf Life Saving Club competed in the Youth Interclub competition at the Lifesaving World Championships, held in Adelaide, South Australia. She was part of the North Cronulla Beach Relay team that competed in the Youth division, giving her her first taste of international lifesaving competition at age 17.

While her sister Alex was winning gold in the beach flags for Australia at those same championships, Emily was still developing her competitive experience at the club level. Her 2018 Worlds appearance was formative rather than headline-making — the kind of early international exposure that builds the composure and understanding of elite competition that pays dividends later.

Growing Into the Opens: 2019 and Beyond

By the 2019 Australian Surf Lifesaving Championships, the Rampoldi family’s footprint on the women’s beach events had grown even further. Alex and Leah finished first and third respectively in the Under-19 women’s beach flags final at that year’s Aussies — a remarkable one-two-four finish for the family across two years of titles. After the 2019 results, Alex noted with characteristic family confidence, “Our sister Emily is going to come back next year, so hopefully she’ll be out there too” — a sign that Emily had perhaps taken a season away from competition or was biding her time before making her push in the Opens.

By the time the 2020 NSW State Championships came around, Emily was indeed back in the mix. At those titles, Emily and Leah finished in the top finishers in the Open women’s beach flags behind the eventual gold medallist Payton Williams of Mollymook — a strong result that confirmed Emily was a genuine contender at the state level in the Opens category.

A Team of the Year

In 2022, the collective achievements of the Rampoldi sisters and their North Cronulla clubmate Lucy Flanagan were formally recognised when the Open Beach Relay team of Alex, Emily, Leah Rampoldi and Lucy Flanagan was named NSW Surf Lifesaving Surf Sports Team of the Year. That same evening, Tom Rampoldi received the NSW Coach of the Year award — a remarkable night for the North Cronulla family that reflected years of consistent excellence.

For Emily, being part of a Team of the Year award alongside her sisters underscored the value she brings not just as an individual competitor but as a relay partner. In beach relay, timing, baton exchange precision, and the ability to perform under pressure in a team format are as important as raw speed, and Emily’s consistency in that discipline had clearly made an impression on the selectors.

The NSW Sharks and a Breakout Individual Season

January 2024 brought Emily her most significant individual breakthrough to date. She was selected for the first time to represent New South Wales as part of the NSW Sharks team at the Super Surf Teams competition, held at Maroubra Beach — a prestige state representative event that brings together the best beach and surf athletes from across Australia.

It was Emily’s rookie NSW Sharks appearance, and she made it count. Over three days of competition, she collected a haul of five medals: gold and bronze in the Mixed Beach Relay alongside South Maroubra’s Luke Newrick, plus gold, silver, and two bronze medals across the individual events. Given the calibre of competition at the Super Surf Teams — where state representative athletes from every corner of Australia converge — it was a genuinely impressive debut.

Emily was candid about her nerves in the early rounds and her growing composure as the competition progressed: “The last few days I haven’t done amazing as I’ve been a bit nervous, but by the third round I’d kind of calmed down and did a bit better.” She was already looking ahead to the next challenge: “I wanted to come into this event to see where I was up to against everyone else. Now I can just keep working hard until the States and Aussies.”

Her stated ambition at that point was to make the Open women’s beach flags final at the Australian Championships — a goal she identified as her primary target for the season. Notably, she also highlighted the beach sprint as an event in which she had been quietly improving.

Taking It to the Track

One of the more interesting dimensions of Emily Rampoldi’s athletic development has been her decision to complement her surf lifesaving career with formal track and field training. Recognised on the World Athletics database as a 100m and 200m competitor representing Australia, she has registered personal bests of 12.56 seconds in the 100 metres and 25.64 seconds in the 200 metres, both set on November 26, 2022.

The decision to take up track athletics was deliberate and purposeful. As Emily explained in early 2024, she had taken to the track specifically to improve her beach performance: “Flags are my speciality but I’ve actually improved in my sprinting lately so I do want to make the final in the sprints as well.” In beach flags — the event that demands explosive off-the-ground acceleration, spatial awareness, and sheer nerve in a knockout sprint for a single flag buried in the sand — raw sprinting speed is only part of the equation. But it is an important part, and Emily recognised that training under structured track conditions, with professional coaching and a focus on technical running mechanics, would give her an edge over competitors who trained exclusively in the sand.

This dual approach — serious beach lifesaving competition combined with formal track training — reflects a level of dedication and sports intelligence that goes beyond simply showing up for training. It speaks to an athlete who analyses her own performance honestly and takes proactive steps to address the areas that will make a difference.

Sydney Water Surf Series 2024: Sprint and Flags Double

The payoff for that cross-training work was evident at the Sydney Water Surf Series opener at Bulli in October 2024, where Emily won the sprint and flags double in the female beach events. Winning both events at a competitive surf series carnival — particularly the pairing of beach sprint and beach flags, which require different but complementary skill sets — confirmed that Emily’s investment in her track work was translating directly to her beach performance.

The Sydney Water Surf Series is one of the key circuit competitions on the NSW surf lifesaving calendar, a preparation ground for the State Championships and the national Aussies. Performing at the top of that circuit is a reliable indicator of an athlete’s form heading into the championship season.

Athlete Profile: The Competitor

Emily Rampoldi competes as a senior open-age athlete with North Cronulla Surf Life Saving Club, representing the club in beach flags and beach sprint as her primary individual disciplines, as well as in the beach relay. Her father Tom Rampoldi serves as her head coach, a coaching relationship that has been in place since her early years in the sport and which continues through her senior career.

Her primary competitive events, in order of personal emphasis, are beach flags, beach sprint, and the mixed beach relay. Her World Athletics registration — which covers her track performances at 100m and 200m — reflects the serious supplementary work she does on the oval in service of her beach career.

Emily is a member of what remains, by any reasonable measure, one of the most remarkable sporting families in Australian surf lifesaving. Her sister Alex has been one of the sport’s dominant forces in beach events for the better part of a decade, with multiple national titles to her name. Leah has been a consistent national-level competitor throughout the same period. Together, the three sisters trained, competed, and achieved in the same events — often in the same finals — across their entire athletic lives.

On the Competitive Horizon

As of the 2025 season, Emily Rampoldi is 23 years old and entering what is typically the most productive period of a beach sprinter’s competitive life. The combination of youth, accumulated experience, a maturing technical game, and an expanding toolset from her track training positions her well to push for her stated ambition: a place in the Open women’s beach flags final at the Australian Surf Lifesaving Championships.

The Aussies — held annually and drawing over 8,000 competitors from more than 200 surf clubs across Australia — is the pinnacle of the domestic surf lifesaving calendar. For a beach events specialist, making the Open final is the benchmark of national-level relevance, and winning it is the kind of achievement that defines a career.

For Emily, the path there runs through continued development on the track as much as on the sand. In taking the deliberate step to cross-train in formal athletics, she has shown a thoughtful and ambitious approach to her sport that should serve her well in the seasons ahead.

Social Media

Emily Rampoldi can be found on Instagram. Her club, North Cronulla Surf Life Saving Club, maintains an active presence on social media platforms including Facebook and Instagram, where updates on the club’s beach program — including the progress of its elite athletes — are regularly posted.

Emily Rampoldi competes for North Cronulla Surf Life Saving Club in the Sutherland Shire, NSW. She holds World Athletics registration (code 15055015) as a 100m and 200m competitor representing Australia.