Just seven athletes are yet to be decided as the field for the Olympic debut for women’s surfing takes shape.
The picture for women’s surfing at Tokyo 2020 has just become a lot clearer.
Thirteen spots have been confirmed and just seven places remain.
Eight elite women’s surfers’ tickets have been locked in through the WSL Championship Tour.
The final spots were confirmed in Hawaii as Carissa Moore became the first American female to qualify for surfing’s Olympic debut while clinching her fourth surfing world title.
At 18, Carissa Moore was the youngest surfer to win a world title. She added a couple more world titles in 2013 and 2015 before losing more often than she was used to. 2019 has seen her back at the top of her game. “Right now I’m stoked with where I’m at. When things get tough I just try to take some time to reconnect,” she told us. Moore has been asking herself: “Who am I if I’m not winning events?”
The second and final U.S. women’s spot went to 17-year old Caroline Marks, while Silvana Lima of Brazil and Brisa Hennesy of Costa Rica took the last two places on offer through the WSL.
These four surfers join an already impressive list of women who have provisionally qualified through the 2019 WSL Championship Tour, including Australia’s Stephanie Gilmore and Sally Fitzgibbons, Brazil’s Tatiana Weston-Webb, and France’s Johanne Defay.
Daniella Rosas will represent Peru after earning qualification through the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, in July.
And the 2019 ISA World Surfing Games saw Japan’s Shino Matsuda, South Africa’s Bianca Buitendag, New Zealand’s Ella Williams, and Israel’s Anat Lelior earn their places too.
The remaining seven women’s spots will be allocated at the 2020 ISA World Surfing Games in May, at a location to be determined.
The young American Tokyo 2020 hopeful tells us how she started surfing to bond with her brothers, the difficulties of fitting in studies while competing on the WSL Championship Tour at the age of 15, and the moment she realised that surfing was what she wanted to do for the rest of her life.
Who will be surfing at the Olympics?
The 13 confirmed female surfers in Tokyo next year are:
Qualified via the 2019 World Surf League Championship Tour:
Carissa Moore (United States)
Caroline Marks (United States)
Stephanie Gilmore (Australia)
Sally Fitzgibbons (Australia)
Tatiana Weston-Webb (Brazil)
Silvana Lima (Brazil)
Johanne Defay (France)
Brisa Hennessy (Costa Rica)
Qualified through the 2019 Pan American Games:
Daniella Rosas (Peru)
Qualified through the 2019 ISA World Surfing Games:
Bianca Buitendag (South Africa)
Shino Matsuda (Japan)
Anat Lelior (Israel)
Ella Williams (New Zealand)
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