Tahiti Bound

- WSL

Qualification Season Is Here. This Is How It Works For The 2024 Olympics.

For the second time ever, surfing will be in the Olympics. The surfing competition for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games will be held at Teahupo'o, Tahiti, which is also the location for the final stop on this year's Championship Tour.

In 2023, World Surf League will be the Tier 1 pathway to qualification for the world's best surfers, and of the 48 athletes competing in the games, the first 10 men and 8 women will qualify via the 2023 WSL Championship Tour's final rankings.

QUALIFICATION RULES

Each country can only qualify a maximum of two men and two women, with one exception:

The highest-ranked teams by gender at the 2022 and 2024 ISA World Surfing Games will qualify one place for their country regardless of the two-per-country quota, meaning a potential third surfer from a specific country could qualify.

At the 2022 ISA Games, USA's women and Japan's men won a place for their countries. Their NOCs will nominate the surfer for that place.

QUALIFICATION DETAILS

Overall, there will be 24 men and 24 women surfers competing in the 2024 Olympic Games. There are multiple paths for athletes to qualify:

• The 2023 Championship Tour will provisionally qualify the first 10 men and 8 women.
• The 2023 ISA World Surfing Games will qualify 4 men and 4 women.
• The 2023 Pan American Games will qualify 1 man and 1 woman.
• The 2024 ISA World Surfing Games will qualify 5 men and 7 women.
• The host nation France will be guaranteed 1 man and 1 woman slot unless already filled by other means of qualification.
• And for the first time, one place per gender will be made available to eligible NOCs through Universality Places. These spots are meant to promote development, provide opportunity to smaller nations, and progress the sport on a global scale.

CHAMPIONSHIP TOUR IMPACT ON THE OLYMPICS

This season, the Championship Tour's final event at the Shiseido Tahiti Pro presented by Outerknown will not only determine the WSL Final 5, but will also host the deciding Olympic qualification battle and provide a preview of the venue for surfing's next appearance in the games.

At the 2020 Olympics, both the men's and women's gold medals were won by current Championship Tour surfers Italo Ferreira and Carissa Moore, and the men's silver was won by Kanoa Igarashi. Former CT competitors Owen Wright and Bianca Buidentag also won bronze and silver medals, respectively.

Follow the surfers, keep up with the rankings, and catch every qualification moment on worldsurfleague.com.