With winter just around the corner, surfers all over the world will be returning to the water in hopes of riding some of the biggest waves in the world. Winter, in much of the world, is a time for big waves to come barreling into some of the most notorious surf locations in the northern hemisphere.
While the big wave riders are out in the waves, the surfers on the World Surf League Championship tour are plotting their next season. Last year it was Caroline Marks and Filipe Toledo who took home the Championship Tour trophies and titles of greatest on earth. Next year with a wrench thrown into the season schedule it could be anyone's game.
Typically the WSL CT will begin in January and conclude in September. For the last three years, the tour began in Hawaii at Banzai Pipeline and concluded in California with the WSL RipCurl Finals. Next year those two stops will remain the same but the stops in the middle will be drastically different. One thing that the WSL had to work around next year is the timing of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.
Next summer the Olympic Games will be held in Paris, France. The surfing portion however will be held on the French Polinesian Island of Tahiti. Tahiti, more particularly, a spot known as Teahupoʻo is a staple spot of tour. With the hustle and bustle of the Olympics happeing there in July, that spot on tour will be moved up to May, giving the athletes that have qualified for the Olympics a chance to practice beforehand.
2024 World Surf League Championship schedule
- Banzai Pipeline, Hawaii, USA: January 29 - February 10
- Sunset Beach, Hawaii, USA: February 12 - 23
- Peniche, Portugal: March 6 - 16
- Bells Beach, Victoria, Australia: March 26 - April 5
- Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia: April 11 - 21
- Mid-season Cut: 36-man and 18-woman fields reduced to 24-man and 12-woman fields.
- Teahupo'o, Tahiti, French Polynesia: May 22 - 31
- Punta Roca, El Salvador: June 6 - 15
- Saquarema, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: June 22 - 30
- 2024 Paris Olympic Games break: July 26 - August 11
- Cloudbreak, Fiji: August 20 - 29
- WSL Finals (Lower Trestles, San Clemente, Calif., USA): September 6 - 14
The key addition to the schedule is the inclusion of Cloudbreak in Fiji. That unique location has not been incorporated into the Championship Tour since 2017. In 2017 it was Courtney Conlogue who took that event for the women and Matt Wilkinson for the men.
The mid-season cut will return again next year, much to the disapproval of the fans. Last year many fan favorite surfers had to go home early leaving a much tighter race at the top. Another disfavored aspect of the tour is the final once again being held at Lower Trestles. This spot has hosted the final event of the year since 2021.
A one-day event to find the champion for the year is a good idea in theory and makes for an exciting day but two years in a row now local surfer Flilpe Toledo won on the men's side and local Caroline Marks won last year for the women. It is beginning to show that a Lowers specialist is most likely to win at that spot if they are put in the right position. Fans have been calling for the final location to be swapped out from year to year.
The best surfers in the world will have their hands full next year with this exciting schedule for the WSL CT and with the prospect of the Olympic Games upon them. Many of the top surfers last year have already secured their spot on their respective countries teams and are spending the off season preparing to compete for Olympic gold. Surfing as a sport made its Olympic debut back in 2021.