WSL extends suspension due to COVID-19
All WSL events officially postponed until end June
June, 4th Update: All WSL events remain on hold. The next announcement will be made at the beginning of July 2020.
Today, Erik Logan, the CEO of the World Surf League announced that all surf events are suspended throughout June. 6 weeks before, they had put everything on hold throughout May due to the Corona virus pandemic. This meant a cancellation of the Corona Open Gold Coast and the postponement of two further events in Australia, the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach and the Boost Mobile Margaret River Pro.
With this new announcement, the Quiksilver Pro G-Land and the Oi Rio Pro in Brazil planned for June are postponed until further notice. Especially G-Land was a tour stop the surf community was looking forward to as the WSL World Championship Tour was supposed to return to this destination in 2020 after a long wait.
We can expect the next update at the beginning of June. Everything else is unclear for the remainder of the 2020 season.
2020 Championship Tour Update
Already prior to the Covid-19 suspension, changes to the tour were discussed withing the WSL. Erik Logan used this occasion to announce some big changes to come for the 2021 season.
Based on the magical experience at the Billabong Pipemaster last December where Italo Ferreira and Gabriel Medina were competing for the world title in the final heat, there will be a world championship heat at the end of 2021. The World Surf League is planning a surf-off during a finals day. More information on this can be expected in July.
In addition to that a new format to the Challenger Series will be applied. Requalifications for the World Championship Tour will run between the CT seasons, hence removing the need for surfers to compete for a year before they can requalify.
To reduce surf related travel and give young surfers more opportunities to make the step into professional surfing by removing financial aspects, there will be regional domestic tours to compete in. More to come. Charlie will keep you updated.
Until the CT 2020 resumes, Charlie keeps on living of the memories from last year at the Quiksilver Pro France 2019.
