How do surfers qualify to surf in the Olympics? In case you’ve missed it, there has been quite a stir in the surf atmosphere about recent changes made by the ISA on this front. Let me fill you in with the drama.
The way athletes of all sports are determined eligible for the Olympics is determined by the IOC – the International Olympic Committee. The IOC has long since named the ISA as the official governing authority for Olympic surfing. So, the ISA draws up the rulebook, as well as the qualification route, and sends it in for approval by the IOC.
In the first two renditions of Olympic surfing, the qualification route was complicated, to say the least. Even though surfers had already qualified for the Olympics via previous events, they still had to compete in the ISA World Games to remain eligible. This had Top WSL CT surfers showing up, winning their first heats lazily, and not showing up for the remaining heats. It was a bit of a cluster.
2 men and 2 women from each country were eligible to qualify. First priority was given to The Top 10 men and Top 8 women on the WSL at the end of the previous year. So if the Top 3 went, say, Filipe Toledo, Gabriel Medina, and Italo Ferreira, Italo would be missing because they are all 3 from Brazil.
The 2023 ISA World Games top 4 (men and women) would qualify.
The 2023 Pan American Games winners (male and female) would qualify.
The 2024 ISA World Surfing Games top 5 men and 7 women would qualify.
Like I said, it was confusing. There are so many different events at so many different time periods it’s hard to keep track of. We might need to make a running list.
Anyways, what everyone is up in arms about is the fact that
1) The WSL Qualifiers are now cut in half – only the top 5 men and top 5 women from the CT will qualify for the Olympics
And 2) The Olympics will happen at some point in the summer. They are planning to take the top 5 ranked surfers from both genders, halfway through the year.
If we are going off of this year’s CT schedule, it would be after the 5th event of the year in El Salvador. Oh yeah, might I add, only 1 surfer per gender, per country via the CT. So again, back to our hypothetical rankings – Filipe Toledo, Gabriel Medina, Italo Ferreira – now both Gabe and Italo are out. See you boys at the Pan Am Games. On the upside, see that they do go and surf in the other routes to qualification, 3 surfers per gender per country can qualify via alternative avenues, as opposed to 2 in years past.
Surfers are arguing that the 2027 World Champ might not even surf in the Olympics, which is a valid point. The rankings will change up a lot between then and the end of the CT year. Listening to a recent Stab podcast, Mikey Ciaramella said he has spoken to Fernando Aguirre, the man running the ISA, and Fernando said this way they are ensuring to have the best surfers of the moment in the Olympics. I’m not sure how to respond to that argument, other than I hope Morgan Ciblic, Eli Hanneman and Jacko Baker are having a monumental run in all those right hand point breaks to start the year.
There are still a whole flock of other opportunities to qualify other than the CT, and it seems quite obvious that Fernando is trying to force the hand and get more CT surfers to surf in these ISA events like the World Surfing Games, Asian Games, Pan American Games, and European Surfing Championships.
In total, there are 22 spots for the men, and 22 spots for the women to be filled. The host country (USA – Los Angeles) will have one extra spot, and there is also one ‘universality’ spot that will be determined in 2028. That surfer must be ranked in the Top 40 places at the 2027 or 2028 ISA World Surfing Games, and will be selected by The Tripartite Commission. How do you like that? More confusion.
Anyways, if you want to try to decipher this code for yourself – have a look. Half of the dates for the qualifying events have yet to be determined, as well as the locations. How will we know if surfers from the CT are even logistically able to surf in the events? Could Fernando be purposefully sabotaging CT surfers in an attempt to fill the Olympic qualifications with random QS (read: ISA) Warriors? If so, I totally back it Aguirre. Save me an entry at the World Surfing Games.
Current CT surfers, and even the WSL’s new CEO in fact, do not back it.
“The WSL supports our athletes and, together with the surfers’ representative body, World Professional Surfers (WPS), rejects the new qualification process put forward by the ISA. We believe that surfing’s success on the Olympic stage relies on the participation of the world’s elite surfers, and this new system compromises that goal,” said Ryan Crosby
Not only that, Crosby heated up the kitchen by even saying the ISA was ghosting him and the WSL surfers.
“They ignored our attempts at a reasonable partnership, canceling meetings and failing to respond to emails, while simultaneously pursuing back-channel discussions regarding qualification.”
Interesting. Even more so, I found, was the harmonious hum from a lot of the CT surfers ringing the same note.
“What a bummer to see this. Total disrespect to the surfers on the WSL and wish you guys would have talked with us before making this decision,” – Lakey Peterson
“To be clear, on behalf of the WSL surfers, we tried to communicate with the ISA to find the best solution for everyone but the ISA was not willing to work with any of the WSL surfers.” – Leonardo Fioravanti
Here is the full officiall qualification system, for those interested.
5 Men & 5 Women from 2028 WSL Championship Tour (1 per gender, per country)
10 spots per gender from 2028 ISA World Surfing Games (1 per country)
1 spot per gender through:
- 2026 Asian Games
- 2027 Pan American Games
- 2027 European Surfing Championships
2026 & 2027 ISA World Surfing Games Winning Teams will allocate 1 spot per gender
Host Nation selection
Universality Selection
Are you team ISA, or team WSL? Personally, I think the world needs to see more unknown surfers get some shine. There are a ton of underground rippers. Also, like I said – can I get a wildcard into a European Surfing Games?
Cheers,
hwilsin
Drew Stanfield