From a young age Ali was involved in surf lifesaving. He was achieving good results in youth competition and gradually started to see good results in open. He decided to move up the coast from NSW to QLD to pursue a career in life saving as an iron man and has since achieved awesome results consistently with full-time coach Zayne Hamill.

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Ali recently won his 6th Coolangatta Gold, a goal he has been training very hard for over the past year to defend his title. He participates annually in the Ocean 6 Series and Nutri-Grain series. Ali owns ACTIV gym where he does part of his training and he dedicates much of his life to the sport.