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Tokyo 2020 Heat Draw and Format

Tokyo 2020 Heat Draw and Format

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Heat draw

View the Men’s and Women’s heat draw and progression for Tokyo 2020 here.

The path to Gold

The Tokyo 2020 format includes 6 rounds of surfing that will narrow the field of 20 men and 20 women down to the Gold Medalists.

The event format will play out as follows (scroll down for visual graphics).

Round 1:

The first round is non-elimination. Surfers will be seeded into five heats of four surfers each, with the top two surfers advancing straight to Round 3. The bottom two surfers will be seeded into Round 2, the first elimination round.

Round 2:

The second round will include two heats of five surfers each. The top three surfers of each heat will advance, while the bottom two surfers will be eliminated from the competition.

Round 3: 

Surfers will be seeded into eight heats of two surfers each. The surfer who places first moves through the bracket, while the surfer who places second is eliminated.

Round 4 (Quarterfinals):

Features four heats of two surfers. The top surfer of each heat advances. The surfer in second is eliminated.

Round 5 (Semifinals):

Two heats of two surfers. The top surfers go to the final. The bottom two surfers go to the Bronze Medal match.

Bronze Match:

A two-person heat where the top surfer earns the Bronze Medal.

Gold Match:

A two-person heat where the top surfer earns the Gold Medal and the second placing surfer earns the Silver Medal.

To view the format in pdf, click here.

To see how surfers will qualify, read about the Qualification System.

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