The World Surf League changes its championship tour format, namely to move its most prestigious event, the Masters pipes on the north coast of Oahu, from the start of the season to the end to determine the annual world champions.
From 2026, the Masters pipes will be for the first time a WSL end -of -season event for women. It was previously an end -of -season event for men until 2019. A WSL WSL contest in Pipe Masters took place in December 2020 at the start of the 2021 season.
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Starting with this campaign in 2021, the WSL moved its world title race for a season to a day of surfing day – the WSL final – for the best five men and women of the regular season.
The new format from next season, which the WSL is invoicing as a 50th year of professional surfing, will be nine events of the regular season from April, two events in eliminatory series in Portugal and Abu Dhabi, then the Pipe Masters as a final in December.
“The calendar of 12 stops hosts a new evolution of the CT (championship tower), redesigned to meet the ambitions and the momentum of the next surfing chapter”, ” According to a press release WSL. “Based on surfer's comments and fans, as well as considerations of partner and authorized components, the CT will use a cumulative classification format which combines a final with high issues with the depth of a title race in the midst of season.”
The nine areas of the regular season of 36 men and 24 women will be narrowed to 24 men and 16 women for the two events in the playoffs. The complete fields of the regular season will join the competition for the Masters pipes, the 12th and the last event.
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The final classification of the season which determines the world champions will be made up of the first seven of the nine on the nine of the last three competitions.
The Masters pipes grant 1.5 times the ranking points of the events of the standard championship tour and “ensures that the final offers elite performance, significant consequences and moments of definition of the race for the world title”, according to the WSL.
The first eight men and women heading towards pipe masters – determined by the two previous post -season events – will gain a deeper seeding advantage in the draw for the final.
“Pipeline has always occupied a special place in the history of surfing, and our fans have clearly indicated that they wanted to see the most critical moments of our sport there,” WSL CEO Ryan Crosby said in the statement. “We are delighted to return the final event of the year, where the world champions will be crowned, in this emblematic test field.”
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The non-elimination sessions have also been withdrawn from all the events of the championship tour.
This new format is for “2026 and beyond”. It is planned that the 2028 Olympic qualifications will be similar to the previous cycles, which means that most of the best surfers would win places at the Los Angeles Games until the WSL 2027 ranking.
In this case, the Masters pipe in 2027 would not only decide world champions, but would also be the last Olympic event for the best surfers.
Thanks to five of the 11 regular season events this year, Italian Ferreira from Brazil and Gabriela Bryan, Hawaians, led the classification of the season. The WSL finals are in four months in Fiji.
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Last season, the Olympians Caity MICMERS and John John Florence gave the United States a scan of the titles of the female and male world for the first time since 2011.
The Americans also won the first two Olympic gold medals for women of surfing – Carissa Moore in Tokyo and Caroline Marks in Paris.
The 2028 Olympic surf events will be in Lower Trestles off San Clemente, which held the WSL final of 2021-24.
Lexus WSL finals
The United States has won the masculine and female surf world championships for the first time since 2011.
