The stage is set and the countdown on until the World Surf League Championship Tour gets underway for 2020, delivering a season of the world’s best athletes on the worlds best waves across Australia, Brazil, South Africa, French Polynesia, California, France, and Hawaii and all starting right here with the Corona Open Gold Coast.
Surfing is also set to make its Olympic debut in 2020 in Tokyo and a range of household names will be gearing up to represent their countries at the games, all of which took part in crucial Qualification as part of the 2019 WSL CT.
The 2020 calendar is taking the world’s best surfers to the most high performance and exotic locations on the planet and will continue to elevate the level of surfing to new heights.
“The WSL Championship Tour is the home of the world’s best surfing and 2020 is poised to be a major year with the Olympic Games and our strongest calendar to date,” Sophie Goldschmidt, WSL CEO, said. “The performance levels seen in recent seasons, and especially in 2019, continue to go to new levels and excite an ever-growing global audience. Further highlighted this season by both the men’s and women’s title races coming down to the final events in Hawaii with multiple contenders on both sides.”
This year’s season of events will once again deliver a few surprises with the return to the iconic lefthander of Grajagan ( known as G-Land ) for the Quiksilver Pro – G-Land.
Corona Open Gold Coast: March 26 – April 5, 2020
Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach: April 8 – 18, 2020
Margaret River Pro: April 22 – May 2, 2020
Quiksilver Pro G-Land: June 4 – 14, 2020
Oi Rio Pro: June 18 – 27, 2020
Corona Open J-Bay: July 7 – 19, 2020
Tahiti Pro Teahupo’o: August 26 – September 6, 2020
Michelob ULTRA Pure Gold Freshwater Pro: September 15 – 20, 2020
Quiksilver Pro France: October 1 – 11, 2020
Meo Rip Curl Pro Portugal: October 14 – 25, 2020
Billabong Pipe Masters: December 8 – 20, 2020
“The world’s best surfing happens on the WSL Championship Tour,” Adrian Buchan, CT surfer, said. “Never before has that been more apparent than in recent seasons and the 2020 calendar looks amazing. Off the back of our extended agreement between the surfers and the WSL, it’s a really exciting time to be on tour. G-Land was where the Dream Tour was born and it’s so exciting to be heading back there. I grew up watching the likes of Kelly (Slater) and Tom Carroll compete there and I can’t wait to see how this generation of surfers approach the wave.”
Corona Open Gold Coast: March 26 – April 5, 2020
Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach: April 8 – 18, 2020
Margaret River Pro: April 22 – May 2, 2020
Quiksilver Pro G-Land: June 4 – 14, 2020
Oi Rio Pro: June 18 – 27, 2020
Corona Open J-Bay: July 7 – 19, 2020
Michelob ULTRA Pure Gold Freshwater Pro: September 15 – 20, 2020
Roxy Pro France: October 1 – 11, 2020
Meo Rip Curl Pro Portugal: October 14 – 25, 2020
Hawaii Pro: November 25 – December 6, 2020
“The WSL continues to elevate and support women’s surfing and the 2020 CT calendar is the best I’ve seen,” Tatiana Weston-Webb, CT surfer, said. “The 2020 schedule will be exciting with the return to G-Land, the first-ever Olympics and the new Challenger Series. I think it’s going to be the most compelling year in surfing ever.”
The 2020 Olympic Games will take place in Japan from the 24th of July to the 9th of August as such, the holistic WSL schedule – Championship Tour, Qualifying Series and Pro Junior Series – has accommodated both the Olympic Games and the qualifier event to ensure the world’s best surfers from the Championship Tour have the opportunity to represent their respective countries this year.
With the 2019 Championship drawn to a close and our Champions Crowned Carissa Moore and Italo Ferreira, the rankings have been tallied and we have the list of athletes who have made it onto the tour in 2020.
With some major news recently breaking on The Lineup podcast that Carissa Moore has decided to take a year off from surfing and will not be lining up on the Gold Coast in March to defend her title in 2020.
The 2020 men’s Championship Tour class will be contested by the WSL Top 34, made up of the Top 22 finishers on the 2019 CT Jeep Leaderboard, the Top 10 finishers on the 2019 Qualifying Series (QS), and two WSL wildcards.
2019 Top 22 CT:
Italo Ferreira (BRA)
Gabriel Medina (BRA)
Jordy Smith (ZAF)
Filipe Toledo (BRA)
Kolohe Andino (USA)
Kanoa Igarashi (JPN)
John John Florence (HAW)
Kelly Slater (USA)
Owen Wright (AUS)
Jeremy Flores (FRA)
Julian Wilson (AUS)
Seth Moniz (HAW)
Michel Bourez (FRA)
Ryan Callinan (AUS)
Jack Freestone (AUS)
Griffin Colapinto (USA)
Caio Ibelli (BRA)
Wade Carmichael (AUS)
Adrian Buchan (AUS)
Conner Coffin (USA)
Peterson Crisanto (BRA)
Yago Dora (BRA)
2019 Top 10 QS (minus double qualifiers from CT):
Frederico Morais (PRT)
Jadson Andre (BRA)
Matthew McGillivray (ZAF)
Jack Robinson (AUS)
Alex Ribeiro (BRA)
Miguel Pupo (BRA)
Ethan Ewing (AUS)
Connor O’Leary (AUS)
Deivid Silva (BRA)
Morgan Cibilic (AUS)
WSL Wildcards:
Adriano de Souza (BRA)
TBD: Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA) / Mikey Wright (AUS)
The 2020 elite women’s CT class will be contested by the WSL Top 17, made up of the Top 10 finishers on the 2019 CT Jeep Leaderboard, the Top 6 finishers on the 2019 Qualifying Series (QS) and one WSL wildcard.
2019 Top 10 CT:
Carissa Moore (HAW)*
Caroline Marks (USA)
Lakey Peterson (USA)
Stephanie Gilmore (AUS)
Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS)
Tatiana Weston-Webb (BRA)
Courtney Conlogue (USA)
Johanne Defay (FRA)
Malia Manuel (HAW)
Nikki Van Dijk (AUS)
* Carissa Moore has withdrawn from the 2020 CT season. She will be replaced by Brisa Hennessy (CRI) on the CT qualification rankings.
2019 Top 6 QS (minus double qualifiers from CT):
Isabella Nichols (AUS)
Bronte Macaulay (AUS)
Sage Erickson (USA)
Brisa Hennessy (CRI)*
Macy Callaghan (AUS)
Keely Andrew (AUS)
* Brisa Hennessy moves into Carissa Moore’s CT qualification spot, opening up the QS qualification spot to Amuro Tsuzuki (JPN)
WSL Wildcard:
Tyler Wright (AUS)
