WSL Announces 2023 Championship Tour Schedule
LOS ANGELES, Calif., USA (Monday, September 19, 2022) - Today, the World Surf League (WSL) announced the schedule for the 2023 Championship Tour (CT). The calendar marks the second full year of the WSL’s redesigned Tours and Competitions framework, which features a fully combined men’s and women’s schedule, 10 regular-season events, a Mid-season Cut after CT Stop No. 5, and the third-annual Rip Curl WSL Finals. The 2023 CT season will also be the top qualification route for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
"We are proud of the new framework we’ve developed and seen play out over the course of this season with great success,” said Jessi Miley-Dyer, SVP of Tours and Head of Competition. "The 2023 schedule provides the best possible platform and will continue to drive the world’s best surfing. Seeing the women return to Tahiti for the first time in 16 years in August was incredible, and I’m proud to confirm that 2023 will continue to see equal events, venues, and prize money with this fully combined schedule."
“Following the incredible momentum and milestones we’ve hit in 2022, we will continue to build our global platform to progress and elevate professional surfing,” said Erik Logan, WSL CEO. “We experienced the redesign in its entirety for the first time this year, and we will further strengthen the sport through next year’s fully-combined Championship Tour, which will also qualify the first 18 athletes for the 2024 Olympic Games.”
2022 World Champion Filipe Toledo (BRA), winner of the 2021 Surf Ranch Pro. Photo: WSL / Nolan
The 2023 CT will include 10 regular-season events in seven countries, starting in January for the Billabong Pro Pipeline. The Mid-season Cut will come into action following the Margaret River Pro, Stop. No. 5. The WSL CT will return to the Surf Ranch, the world's largest high performance, human-made wave 100 miles from the ocean in Lemoore, Calif., as the sixth stop on the calendar. The 2023 Rip Curl WSL Finals will be held in Lower Trestles in San Clemente, Calif., where the men’s and women’s Top 5 surfers will face off for the World Titles.
2023 WSL Championship Tour Schedule:
Billabong Pro Pipeline (Hawaii): January 29 - February 10
Hurley Pro Sunset Beach (Hawaii): February 12 - 23
MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal (Portugal): March 8 - 16
Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach (Australia): April 4 - 14
Margaret River Pro (Australia): April 20 - 30
Mid-season Cut: 36-man and 18-woman fields reduced to 24-man and 12-woman fields.
Surf Ranch Pro (USA): May 27 - 28
Surf City El Salvador Pro presented by Corona (El Salvador): June 9 - 18
Rio Pro presented by Corona (Brazil): June 23 - July 1
Corona Open J-Bay (South Africa): July 13 - 22
SHISEIDO Tahiti Pro (French Polynesia): August 11 - 20
WSL Final 5 determined to battle for the men’s and women’s World Titles.
Rip Curl WSL Finals (Lower Trestles, USA): September 7 - 15
The break for the final event of the 2023 regular CT season, Teahupo'o, is also confirmed to host the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Photo: WSL / Poullenot
2023 Championship Tour Is Top Qualification Avenue for Paris 2024 Olympic Games
The 2023 WSL CT is the top of the hierarchy in the Olympic qualification system for the world’s best surfers. The WSL CT rankings at the end of the 2023 season, starting at the Billabong Pro Pipeline and ending at the SHISEIDO Tahiti Pro, will determine the 18 of 48 spots at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (10 men and 8 women).
Comments
Main point of interest: no G'Land, and Kelly's Tub has returned.
Minor point: 2023 appears to be the first year in ages that Quiksilver will not have their name attached to any 'CT event (unsure if they are doing 'QS events tho).
They need to add Snapper / Kirra, G’Land and Cloudbreak, then you have an epic tour.
Remove the pool and Rio.
Can we stop with the bring back snapper crap. Most of the time it is a longboard wave unless its pumping.
Longboard wave? Ha ha you must be living in a time warp
Nah just lived on the gold coast for twenty years and surf it every day. Obviously you must have similar experience?
anywhere can be a longboard wave if its not pumping.
I agree . Bring back Snapper ,remove the Surf Ranch and have the finals in a wave of consequence. Change the finals venue each year .
If you stay at Trestles Toledo will be world champ forever ?
So they’ve dropped G-land and added the wave pool?
AHAHAHAHAHA
I repeat
AHAHAHAHAH
Edit.
Hope that’s it for G-land and it fades into obscurity again
I was scrolling down to type this haha
cloud break should be a no brainer...... slaters tub..? finals at trestles ...again......wtf...should finish it off back in Hawaii at Haleiwa in november/dec
How long until Indonesia returns to the 'CT stage?
2019 was the last time the Keramas event was run (though it had a break of four years between 2014 and 2017).
Wonder what the next steps will be: who, where, when?
The Stream Tour. Metrics are gunna go thru the roof!
Good to see G-land back off the radar but.. they put in so much effort and created so much hype and content for the event, upgraded roads, cemented and cabled a tower to the reef and they can it after one year??
Quik pulled their cash. The whole thing is infuriating.
Stoked G Land is off and a big no for Cloud break.
We don't need these contests in good surf. Please stay at the B grade waves.
Totes agree, they should probably replace Jbay with Rincon too
Could say a few of the waves are C grade at best , not B grade
The comments on the Wozzle Facebook post announcing this shit fight are hilarious - this abomination of a tour is almost universally hated, but the SUP lord isn't listening. I'll give them two more years before things start to implode.
Hard to find even 1 positive post on their FB page.
Yep, and not only from average punters, Kong is in the thread shaking the tree too
Surf ranch would have to be the most boring event ever…even a shit 1/2ft beachy has more drama
Goes to show the WSL don't listen or don't want to listen to their audience and in some instances their own surfers (aka Steph after the final)...
The pig-headedness of the WSL is now plain to see.
So people want G-land off the radar but want Fiji on the radar - I don't get it...
I guess G-Land is a lot more accessible than Fiji price wise
Does anyone think late May is a bad time of year for the surf ranch? Guaranteed it won’t get over 3 foot...
Surf ranch back on the radar now ,, FFs it was just starting to quieten down there too .....
Ha ha ha
Surf ranch secret spot blown up by the WSL
The millionaire corpo VAL's will be spewing
Next most logical progression for wsl is to replace Hawaii with Hainan China - solid target market there..
hahaha
again 3 of the first 5 stops are fat righthanders and now no Gland (which is actually good haha) plus putting the pool back in........lucky the CEO is a spin doctor because he is going to need a whole lot of BS to make this seem like it is going in a positive direction.
So 10 men qualify for the Olympics, how does that work if they're all American for arguments sake? Keeps Kelly going I guess.
Good point Sprout. I wonder how some of the random nation's surfers in the last Olympics will feel about competing at heaving Chopes
Seriously!?!?
They've ruined the tour enough with Trestles finals, and now they're bringing back the garbage wave pool contest.
They've literally taken all the goodwill built over decades and they're milking the tour for all its worth.
Tempting for JJF to walk away and have a sick time with his brothers
Maybe it’s time to give Greg Norman and the Saudis a call.
WSL seems to hate it’s own fans.
An alternative format would be welcomed. I say let them all surf over a 3-4 hour period they have to fight for waves and top 2 waves win.
Then surfing pro would match surfing average punter
Also waves like superbank drop ins are not penalised. Occy can drop in on Toledo is ok
Its true.
Competition is so far removed from real surfing.
It's mostly boring to watch.
Anyones surfing would be next level with 30+ boards and three trips to the Ments a year
Keramas is a no brainer.
I was torn about G.land, was looking forward to seeing the New Worlds best and Slater in pumping 6+ Speedies (No show) but was concerned about the impact WSL would have on the environment and underground surfers that make their yearly sojourn there. Bring back Fiji for the final.
WSL Ranch is the Ultimate wave on tour!
Crew may recall The Ultimate Surfer was a wipe out & was washed up!
Wotz a Matter! Don't look so nervous..this won't hurt a bit! (Cough!)
But....Wot ever happened to that humble promise of a Tour Wild Card for whatever Pool Party Geek?
tbb is thinking ELO has tweeked a Tinsel Town Coup with his Ultimate WSL Hybrid
See : WSL Ultimate B grade Actor/Surfers (V) WSL Ultimate Goats
See : The Ultimate WSL Surf Flick Studio ( Now more exclusive & off limits than G Land NP VIP Party )
See : The Ultimate WSL Tour Battle on Longest Comp Wave.
WSL advises swellnet crew to read the Ultimate fine print obligations...It ain't over until we say so!
tbb paid the Ultimate Sacrifice to Paddle Battle ELO's Charm Offensive.
Just how does one chalm ELO's Ultimate WSL Wave Pool Hydraglyphs.
#@%! : May contain new Make Believe Wildcard upgrades if & when the WSL Tour should Wipe Out!
ELO : "We decide which 3 Calendar Years + Which 3 Trilogies to play our Ultimate Wild Card actors."
https://www.worldsurfleague.com/the-ultimate-surfer
The Ultimate WSL Punter : "Hey! ELO just keeps making this shit up...& that's why we love him!"
Brace yourselves folks...we could be looking at 3x Ultimate ELO Surf Ranch TV Star VIP pool parties.
The Ultimate Hollyweird Surf Flick Saga with Ultimate guest appearances from The Ultimate Surfers!
ELO has married WSL CT Tour with the Neverland Pantomime for The Ultimate Wedding of the Year!
or...
Maybe just pretend tbb was never oarstruck by ELO atop The Pure Judging Tower Mount.
Brilliant,
Master stroke from the undisputed king of corpo fluff speak.
Bravo ELO.
Surf is officially lost .
JM-D also playing to ELO's narrative...
I have no doubt they have a most excellent dream tour in mind with all our fav venues on it, but if the cash aint there then the cash aint there. The heady days of RipaQuikBong being awash with dough and correspondingly generously comp (and sponsorship) budgets are long gone.
It would be interesting to know just how much more expensive it is to get labour and infrastructure to those exotic reefs we want to see the pros on (indo, fiji, tahiti, etc) compared to readily accessible breaks in developed nations. I expect its a given the state backed Bells and Margs of the tour are cross-subsidising the Chopes and El Salvadors of the tour.
Perhaps generously, I like to believe the main reason we don't have the tour we want is simple dollars and cents and not time-zones and target audiences.
To make the Cloudbreaks and Grajagans of the world viable to ROI conscious sponsors the Woz need, amongst other things, a large and committed viewer base. Evidently they don't have it yet, so i suppose what choice do they have in the meantime other than to pump pump pump the existing product until they build it.
Maybe the path to getting the dream tour we want is to pretend we already have it.
It could probably be done a lot cheaper and smarter if all they worried about were the competitors, judges and camera crew.
Fark that's a couple of lame moves. I can't stand corpo pricks milking surfing but you'd think it is pretty ripe at the moment for someone like Red Bull to do a premium pay per view 5 event league at class waves (or do it out of their ad budget). I'd watch it, and I don't see the difference between them and the WSL in terms of authenticity.
Someone in Corona must love surfing! Does anyone know what the story is with them sponsoring so many comps?
The WSL must be getting serious financial incentives from San Clemente to keep the finals at Trestles.
Does anyone want to see a contest at Surf Ranch besides the WSL?
Outerknown no longer sponsoring Tahiti contest. Quiksilver no longer sponsoring a contest.
Does Slater announce his retirement prior to Pipeline, with hopes of qualifying for Olympics in 2024.
Meant to say Slater announce his last year on tour prior to Pipeline contest
Yep should just come out and be honest: we got 0 cash, bleeding money all over the place, and it is running at a big loss so this is the best we can do. Like it or lump it we still got (sort of) a tour.
Cryptic comment considering your profile photo.
Inside information strictly confidential.
LOL
Euphemisms are a type of doublespeak that attempts to make certain situations seem more palatable. They are used to soften a blow rather than to hide the truth. They're evasive, but not usually malicious. The speaker is being polite, but not purposefully distorting or evading some major truth.
There are many examples of euphemism.
"alternative facts" instead of "lies" or "misinformation"
"a bit shaky" instead of "very poor quality"
"good effort" instead of "that's not right"
"ill-advised" instead of "a terrible idea"
Reference
https://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-doublespeak.html
So they haven't listened to or taken any notice of the overwhelming sentiment, fine, that's in keeping with the way they're running the show into the ground. The least they could do though, is remove the tower from G-Land's reef now, not in October as they say, but now so it can start to heal. Good riddance.
WSL...death by a thousand cuts
Unreal, so glad the Ranch is back in!!!
Damn tennis tour
Misnomer.
I really think we were as spectators spoilt for a decade there....
Even still with the schedule the way it was conditions were not always perfect.....
I've watched competitive surfing since the early 80's
So honestly it's still better than that.
Good on the wsl for still pitching in and making it work.
Where will we be in ten years ?
For what ever reason I don't think indo actually works as a ct venue.
They have tried so hard with not much luck.
Good comment. I am ancient and remember the surfabout's which were great when they had surf, even flew everybody from Sydney to bells one year then it fell in a heap. After that was extremely slim pickings for a long time and some of the surf in the late 80's was terrible. In the scheme of things Lanky is dead right it gets a lot worse than this.
Yeah Bobby
HAhahaha this is pure gold!
Back when surfers were rebels. This is magic
Wasn’t this right before he was dropped off tour and was replaced by John John and Medina. He was right, about not being competition - just the wrong way around.
Fuck it - let’s just run a one day all comers world title event at Huntington Beach, double points for a good Huntington hop.
That mid year stretch of the Tub, El Salvador and Rio. Good grief.
Can honestly say I have not watched any of those event for .....
Poor freeride76 I can hear his keys smashing into his key board
Full rage article to come.
Same here...
It's rather unsportsmanlike to say ya read freeride 76 just for the Comp articles!
Poor Ben ...all can hear his cables strangling the last gasp of life outta the WSL Web Cast.
Full rage Vid to come.
Charlie : "Pretty sure we're all on the same page...with more smashing & strangling!"
Better off having Snapper than Bells in another La Nina year, WC Vic surf has been soooo shit
But agree with above, when so many high quality waves are excluded, the real potential for a competitor tour must be massive!
Can't imagine investors are lining up to fund a rebel tour
Time for Red Bull to step back up and a offer a six stop, top 24 and leave the WSL as unwitting feeders with their QS?
They probably pulled GLand as punishment for those wild unscripted parties they had whilst in the jungle.
No fun for you!! Bad surfers!
Does this leave the door wide open for an alternative tour?
The pro's tried to get it going ages ago, maybe its time to try again?
Someone on here must have the right contacts to make it happen.
I think we would all love to see "the world's best surfers in the world's best waves"!
for my 2 bobs worth
12 events starting and finishing in Hawaii
+ Australian CT tour
and
wait for it
wave pool for the Olympics - takes out the random wave choice - maybe they will need to perform in 6 surfing disciplines ;-body, esky, short, long, SUP and tow in. now that would be interesting!!
LoL
And they could have a trampoline beside the pool so everybody can practice their flips. That would be fun!
Where does the bulk of WSL revenue actually come from?
Ziff - the owner. Suspect his patience is running out
Personally I can't see rebel tour working.
Surfing is in such a weird place right now.
Companies are all owned by one or three hedge fund companies.
Most great waves are unaffordable to surfers....the awful truth.
It seems generationally we are in a talent slump.
No clear access to qualify for the tour.
We have 9 pretty pointless contests.
We have a company screaming for attention.
If one tour is not working why have another one ?
This is great. They just need to replace Tahiti with Waco and its a Brazilian wet dream.
Options for ratings....
NUDITY AT THE GAMES?
There are two stories relating to the question of nudity at the ancient Olympic Games. One story states that it was a runner from Megara, Orsippos or Orrhippos who, in 720 B.C. was the first to run naked in the stadion race when he lost his shorts in the race. Another tradition is that it was the Spartans who introduced nudity to the Olympic Games in the 8th century B.C. as it was a Spartan tradition. It is not clear if the very first recorded victor at Olympia, Koroibos, who won the stadion race in 776 B.C. wore shorts or not. It seems fairly clear that by the late 8th century nudity was common for the male contestants.
Politics of International Venues ....
FROM ANCIENT TO MODERN
Although the ancient Games were staged in Olympia, Greece, from 776 BC through 393 AD, it took 1503 years for the Olympics to return.
The first modern Olympics were held in Athens, Greece, in 1896. The man responsible for its rebirth was a Frenchman named Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who presented the idea in 1894. His original thought was to unveil the modern Games in 1900 in his native Paris, but delegates from 34 countries were so enthralled with the concept that they convinced him to move the Games up to 1896 and have Athens serve as the first host.
https://www.penn.museum/sites/olympics/olympicorigins.shtml
bbbird > Athletes never needed an excuse to get their gear off in the Olympic Village!
News : [ Nude Olympic Surf contingent were disqualified for refusing to remove their Ankle Straps ]
Unbeachbumlike Surfie : "We're not gonna expose our ankle tan lines for you fuckin' sick pervs!"
How about a whole shake up. 8 comps, 20 day waiting periods, 44 people - top 40 + 4 wild cards. Chopes, Pipe, Jbay, Cloudbreak double points. One Aus event (probably Goldy), One euro event (France, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Scotland rotate each season), US trestles, South America (rotate between Brazil, Chile, Peru each season).
Final event roving like the search.. change each season
Top 12
Indo, Morroco, Central America, Canary’s etc
Maybe ditch qs all together as well
Spots 32 - 40 to qualify through trials weekend before waiting period of event starts
The Slater wave pool is only good for light, Arial surfers!
And we are losing the essence of true surfing.
Wake up WSL!!!!