The first ever surf contest to be reported was held in 1928, at Corona Del Mar, California. Titled the ‘Pacific Coast Surf Riding Championships’, the event was organized by the city of Newport Beach. Surf competitions have come a long way since these early days of paddle contests, canoe tilting, surfboard races and life-saving demonstrations.
The World Surf League (WSL), presently known as ‘The Global Home Of Surfing’, is the largest competitive surfing circuit to date. Formerly dubbed as the IPS (International Pro Surfing), then the ASP (Association of Surfing Professionals), and now the WSL, this organization has been crowning the World Champions of Surfing since 1976.
Originally founded by Fred Hemmings and Randy Rarick, the IPS was short-lived. After a brief 5 year run, the IPS was quickly dismantled. Ian ‘Kanga’ Cairns, and Pete ‘PT’ Townend, then known as the ‘Bronzed Aussies’, quickly went to work on their own professional surf tour – the ASP. The difference that the ASP would bring to surfing was “focus on quality surf, removing the tour from overcrowded spots to find more remote venues showcasing the best waves in the world,” and the idea of a Dream Tour was born. The IPS and its founders retained the rights and the control over the highly coveted Triple Crown, but that was all that was left in the wake of the ASP. The ASP then ran professional surfing from 1983 – 2015, when the company rebranded to the WSL.
So, how does the World Surf League (WSL) work? How do they determine the World Champions? What is a heat in surfing? Does a surfer need to win all of the contests to be the World Champion? I’m here to answer all of your questions, and more. This is the World Surf League explained.
First and foremost, the WSL works under a 3 tiered system, similar to baseball’s minor league program.
The Qualifying Series (QS) is the bottom, and this series comprises regional events that local surfers compete in. These events can have up to 112 surfers in them. If you win enough points and finish the end of the year in a top position*, you earn a spot onto the Challenger Series (CS) – the middle tier.
The Challenger Series is a newer (2020) introduction to the WSL. 80 men and 48 women surf on the Challenger Series, which is quoted as the “launchpad to the elite Championship Tour”. The top 10 men and 7 women at the end of the Challenger Series will qualify for the Championship Tour (CT).
The Championship Tour (CT) is the big leagues. The Dream Tour, as it was once called. The Championship Tour starts the year with 32 Men and 17 Women. Half way through the year, the bottom 10 Men, and the bottom 7 Women are cut from the Tour, and get sent back down to the Challenger Series to try and requalify for the CT in the next year. This is called the Mid-Year Cut.
Next year (2026) will be the first year that the Women’s Championship Tour will expand to 24 surfers. That means for this year (2025), only 3 Women will get cut halfway through the year.
* Different regions qualify different numbers of surfers, based on their size and population.
Contests on the World Surf League’s Championship Tour have a waiting period typically between 7 and 12 days. The surfers, judges and staff will assess conditions and the forecast, running the event in the best conditions given.
Any contest is broken down into Heats and Rounds. Each Round will consist of a certain amount of Heats. This is what a QS1000 Event Draw looks like.
A Heat is a predetermined amount of time that each surfer is given to perform against a number of opponents. A Heat can be 35 minutes or longer, and typically has 2, 3, or 4 surfers in it.
In the WSL, surfers can ride as many waves as they want during their heat. Judges will score each ride based on a judging criteria and a scoring scale.
In the WSL’s format, each surfer’s best 2 waves are kept in each heat for a combined Heat Total. The surfers with the highest Heat Total performed the best, thus winning, or advancing through the heat.
How does judging work in the WSL?
In WSL events there are 5 sitting judges, as well as one Head Judge. To get a score for each wave, all 5 judges score a number 0.01 – 10. The high score and the low score are dropped, then middle three scores are averaged to get the wave score.
This is the Judging Criteria – what the judges are basing their scores off of.
- Commitment and degree of difficulty
- Innovative and progressive maneuvers
- Combination of major maneuvers
- Variety of maneuvers
- Speed, power and flow
This is the Judging Scale
[0.0 — 1.9: Poor]
[2.0 — 3.9: Fair]
[4.0 — 5.9: Average]
[6.0 — 7.9: Good]
[8.0 — 10.0: Excellent]
How does the point ranking system work?
Every event and every result is worth a certain amount of points. The Championship Tour and the Challenger Series have a similar point system for places 1st – 9th.
1st place = 10,000 points
2nd place = 7,800 points
3rd place = 6,085 points
5th place = 4,745 points
9th place = 3,320 points
After 9th place is where there is a slight difference between the Challenger Series and the Championship Tour.
17th place (CS) = 1,900 points
17th place (CT) = 1,330 points
33rd place (CS) = 700 points
33rd place (CT) = 265 points
49th place (CS) = 600 points
65th place (CS) = 300 points
73rd place (CS) = 250 points
On the Qualifying Series (QS), the points ranking system is a bit different. Certain contests will be worth more points than others. For example, the BTMI Barbados Surf Pro is a QS5000, meaning the winner will net 5,000 points, whereas the Vic Bay Surf Pro is a QS1000, in which the winner nets 1000 points.
The points given out for each contest vary, but the end of the year winner and qualifiers will still be the surfers with the most points, ranked within the qualifying positions to graduate up.
What is the WSL Schedule of events for 2025?
The number of events on each Tier of the WSL varies by year. This year (2025) we have the most events on the Championship Tour since 2019 – eleven.
In 2022, the WSL announced the decision to hold both Mens and Womens Tour at the same venue. Here is the schedule:
- Lexus Pipe Pro – Jan. 27 – Feb. 8th COMPLETED
- Surf Abu Dhabi Pro – Feb. 14 – 16th COMPLETED
- MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal Mar. 15 – 25th
- Surf City El Salvador Pro Apr 2 – 12th
- Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Apr 18 – 28th
- Bonsoy Gold Coast Pro May 3 – 13th
- Western Australia Margaret River Pro May 17 – 27th
- Lexus Trestles Pro June 9 – 17th
- VIVO Rio Pro June 21 – 29th
- Corona Cero Open J-Bay Jul 11 – 20th
- Tahiti Pro Aug 7 – 16th
Lexus WSL Finals Fiji Aug 27 – Sept 4th
How is the World Champion of the WSL determined?
Starting with the Qualifying Series, there will be a winner from each region – the highest ranked surfer at the end of the contest year. That winner, along with an allotted number of surfers (that is different for each region) will qualify and graduate up to the Challenger Series.
The Challenger Series will also have an overall winner, the Male and Female surfers with the most points at the end of the competitive year. Up to this point, we have seen 10 Men and 5 Women graduate each year up to the Championship Tour. Next year (2026) that will change for the Women, and there will be 7 Women to graduate up to the CT.
The Championship Tour is what determines the World Champion. Prior to 2021, the surfer with the most points at the end of the year would win the Title. With this format in place, a lot of times the Title would be won before the last event of the year. A surfer would rack up so many points early on in the year, it would be mathematically impossible for any other surfer to catch them at a certain point. The World Title could be won with 2 or 3 events remaining.
In 2021, the WSL decided to switch up the Format for the Title. For the last 4 years, we have had the World Title decided on what is known as ‘Finals Day’ – a one day, winner-take-all event to crown the Champions. The top 5 Men and top 5 Women are invited to a one day surf off to determine the World Champions for the year.
How Does WSL Finals Day Work?
How it works: the Top 5 ranked Male and Female surfers are placed in a bracket based on the year end rankings. The number 1 surfers has a bid straight into the Final, needing to win a best-of-three showdown to win the Title. Surfers ranked 5th will surf against the surfer ranked 4th. The winner of this heat will face off against the surfer ranked 3rd, and so on, through to the Title Match. Whoever can win 2 of 3 Heats in the Title Match is the World Champion. Here is what last years Men’s Final 5 bracket looked like.
The WSL is now introducing another new change this year (2025) – a venue switch. Up until this year, Finals Day has been held at what is considered one of the most consistent and high performance waves in the world – Lower Trestles down in San Clemente, California. This marks the first year (2025) the event will be held at Cloudbreak, a world renowned left hand reef break in Fiji.
Who are the past World Champions of the WSL?
IPS World Champions
1976: Peter Townend (AUS)
1977: Shaun Tomson (RSA), Margo Oberg (HAW)
1978: Wayne Bartholomew (AUS), Lynn Boyer (HAW)
1979: Mark Richards (AUS), Lynn Boyer (HAW)
1980: Mark Richards (AUS), Margo Oberg (HAW)
1981: Mark Richards (AUS), Margo Oberg (HAW)
1982: Mark Richards (AUS), Debbie Beacham (USA)
ASP World Champions
1983/1984: Tom Carroll (AUS), Kim Mearig (USA)
1984/1985: Tom Carroll (AUS), Freida Zamba (USA)
1985/1986: Tom Curren (USA), Freida Zamba (USA)
1986/1987: Tom Curren (USA), Freida Zamba (USA)
1987/1988: Damien Hardman (AUS), Wendy Botha (RSA)
1988: Barton Lynch (AUS), Freida Zamba (USA)
1989: Martin Potter (UK), Wendy Botha (RSA)
1990: Tom Curren (USA), Pam Burridge (AUS)
1991: Damien Hardman (AUS), Wendy Botha (RSA)
1992: Kelly Slater (USA), Wendy Botha (RSA)
1993: Derek Ho (HAW), Pauline Menczer (AUS)
1994: Kelly Slater (USA), Lisa Andersen (USA)
1995: Kelly Slater (USA), Lisa Andersen (USA)
1996: Kelly Slater (USA), Lisa Andersen (USA)
1997: Kelly Slater (USA), Lisa Andersen (USA)
1998: Kelly Slater (USA), Layne Beachley (AUS)
1999: Mark Occhilupo (AUS), Layne Beachley (AUS)
2000: Sunny Garcia (HAW), Layne Beachley (AUS)
2001: C. J. Hobgood (USA), Layne Beachley (AUS)
2002: Andy Irons (HAW), Layne Beachley (AUS)
2003: Andy Irons (HAW), Layne Beachley (AUS)
2004: Andy Irons (HAW), Sofia Mulanovich (PER)
2005: Kelly Slater (USA), Chelsea Georgeson (AUS)
2006: Kelly Slater (USA), Layne Beachley (AUS)
2007: Mick Fanning (AUS), Stephanie Gilmore (AUS)
2008: Kelly Slater (USA), Stephanie Gilmore (AUS)
2009: Mick Fanning (AUS), Stephanie Gilmore (AUS)
2010: Kelly Slater (USA), Stephanie Gilmore (AUS)
2011: Kelly Slater (USA), Carissa Moore (HAW)
2012: Joel Parkinson (AUS), Stephanie Gilmore (AUS)
2013: Mick Fanning (AUS), Carissa Moore (HAW)
2014: Gabriel Medina (BRA), Stephanie Gilmore (AUS)
WSL World Champions
2015: Adriano De Souza (BRA), Carissa Moore (HAW)
2016: John John Florence (HAW), Tyler Wright (AUS)
2017: John John Florence (HAW), Tyler Wright (AUS)
2018: Gabriel Medina (BRA), Stephanie Gilmore (AUS)
2019: Italo Ferreira (BRA), Carissa Moore (HAW)
2020: Canceled Due to Covid-19 Pandemic
2021: Gabriel Medina (BRA), Carissa Moore (HAW)
2022: Filipe Toledo (BRA), Stephanie Gilmore (AUS)
2023: Filipe Toledo (BRA), Caroline Marks (USA)
2024: John John Florence (HAW), Caitlin Simmers (USA)
How can I watch the WSL?
The first few rounds of every Championship Tour (CT) event are on Youtube. Quarter Finals and on are available to stream on the WSL’s website, the WSL app, and ESPN+.
We have a WSL Championship Tour event live right now at Supertubos in Peniche, Portugal – the MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal. Tune in later tonight to catch it live, or you can watch the first two days recap on Youtube.
https://www.worldsurfleague.com
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/world-surf-league/id966709252
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Cheers,
hwilsin
Drew Stanfield