The World Surf League has announced their 2022 championship calendar, and in a shakeup, the Gold Coast has been left off the world surfing tour for the second year running, with the event last being held in 2019 after its cancellation in 2020.
The revamped calendar is a landmark change for the sporting franchise as they seek to integrate the CT and the Challenger Series, which will be holding an event on the Gold Coast in May 2022.
This will be the first fully redesigned tour schedule, establishing new venues and dates and the first time the men and women’s schedule is combined, including a midseason cut that will reduce the field from 36-man and 18-woman fields reduced to 24-man and 12-woman fields.
The 2022 WSL CT will include ten regular-season events in seven countries, starting in January at the world-famous Pipeline in Hawai’i, for the first-ever men’s and women’s joint event at that legendary break. The CT will return to G-Land, Indonesia, which is back on the CT for the first time in 24 years for the men and for the first time ever for the women, and conclude in August at the infamous Teahupo’o in Tahiti before the second-annual Rip Curl WSL Finals in September, where the WSL Final 5 men’s and women’s surfers will face off for the undisputed World Title.
The 2022 WSL Championship Tour Schedule
- Pipleline – Hawai’i – Jan 29 to Feb 10
- Sunset – Hawai’i – Feb 11 – 23
- Peniche – Portugal – March 3 – 13
- Bells Beach – Australia – April 10 – 20
- Margaret River – Australia – April 24 – May 4
Mid-Season Cut – 36-man and 18-woman fields reduced to 24-man and 12-woman fields.
- G – Land – Indonesia – May 28 – June 6
- Trestles – USA – June 15 -22
- Saquarema – Brazil – June 27 – July 4
- Jeffreys Bay – South Africa – July 9 – 18
- Teahupo’o – Tahiti – August 11- 21
WSL Final 5 determined to battle for the undisputed men’s and women’s World Titles
Location TBA – September 7 – 18
The WSL Challenger Series Opens at Snapper Rocks
The second of three competitive tiers for the world’s best surfers, the 2022 WSL Challenger Series will feature 96-man and 64-woman fields, drawn from the seven WSL Regional Qualifying Series around the world. CS surfers will compete for a chance to advance to the elite WSL CT in 2023, with surfers counting their best five of eight results on the Challenger Series in hopes of finishing in the Top 10 men’s and Top 5 women’s spots by the end of the season.
The 2022 WSL CS will consist of eight events, beginning at Snapper Rocks on Australia’s Gold Coast, Australia from May 7 – 15 and concluding in Haleiwa, Hawai’i from November 26 – December 7.
The 2022 WSL Challenger Series Schedule*:
- Gold Coast, Australia – May 7 – 15
- Manly, Australia – May 17 – 24
- Ballito, South Africa – July 20 – 27
- Huntington Beach, USA – July 30 – August 7
- Ericeira, Portugal – October 1 – 9
- Landes, France – October 15 – 23
- Piha, New Zealand – November 5 – 13
- Haleiwa, Hawai’i – November 26 – December 7
Snapper Rocks has served as the opening CT event since 1998 and with the two Australian CT events in 2022, the famed righthand point will host an international field in the high-quality surf month of May, igniting the WSL CS schedule each season moving forward.