A Breakdown Of The Tokyo 2021 Olympic Surfing Format

The International Surfing Association has released the heat draw and seeding orders for the upcoming Olympic surfing debut.

Ten of the 20 slots on the men’s side will be taken by WSL CT surfers: Gabriel Medina, Italo Ferreira, Kolohe Andino, John John Florence, Owen Wright, Julian Wilson, Michel Bourez, Jeremey Flores, Jordy Smith, and Kanoa Igarashi.

Another five of the mens’ slots will go to Lucca Mesinas, Frederico Morais, Ramzi Boukhiam, Shun Murakami, and Billy Stairmand. The remaining five slots will be decided at the 2021 World Surfing Games in Surf City, El Salvador.

Only eight of the womens’ slots will go to CT surfers, including: Carissa Moore, Caroline Marks, Steph Gilmore, Sally Fitzgibbons, Tatiana Weston-Webb, Silvana Lima, Johanne Defay, and Brisa Hennessy.

Other female competitors include Daniella Rosas, Bianca Buitendag, Shino Matsuda, Anat Lelior, and Ella Williams. Seven slots are still up for grabs.

The chart above shows the breakdown of the first couple of rounds. Round one is a four-surfer heat. The first and second seeds will advance to round 3, while the third and fourth seeds will have to surf a 5 person heat in round 2. The last place surfer of each round two heat will be eliminated.

With 16 surfers left, this leaves us two-person elimination heats. Looks interesting; let’s see if it actually happens.