A further seven slots remain to be confirmed in final two events on the 2023 World Surf League Championship Tour (WSL CT)
Teahupo’o, Tahiti – August 12, 2023
The ISA is pleased to confirm three Paris 2024 Olympic Games qualifiers after the first day of competition for the WSL’s final main season event of the 2023 CT, the Shiseido Tahiti Pro.
The 2023 CT awards Paris 2024 qualification slots to the top ten men and top eight women, with a limit of two surfers per gender, per nation.
Inaugural Women’s Olympic Surfing Gold Medalist and five-time WSL Champion Carissa Moore and two-time WSL Champion John John Florence will return as Olympians for Team USA, while Tyler Wright (AUS) will compete in her first Olympic Games.
Wright, a two-time ISA World Junior Champion and two-time WSL Champion, secured her slot after making the Women’s Quarter Finals, while fellow Australian Stephanie Gilmore, who is an eight-time WSL Champion and Tokyo 2020 Olympian, held off qualification confirmation for Molly Picklum by also making the Quarter Finals.
Gilmore and Picklum both still have the chance to claim the remaining slot for Australian women, though Gilmore would have a much more difficult road to do so.
Moore and Florence were able to claim their Paris 2024 slots by simply surfing their Opening Round heats in Tahiti. Both surfers are 30-years-old and were born and raised on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, Moore on the South Shore, Florence on the North Shore. They were also teammates for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Moore is thrilled to have the opportunity to defend her gold medal and will enter the Paris 2024 conversation as an obvious frontrunner. As one of the top performers at Teahupo’o over the past decade, Florence also sets himself apart as a strong contender for a gold medal.
The pair will join previously qualified surfer Griffin Colapinto on Team USA, while Caroline Marks and Caitlin Simmers remain in contention for the remaining women’s USA slot. In the likely scenario that both women qualify for the Rip Curl WSL Finals, the slot will be decided during that event in California in September.
Team USA are also guaranteed a third women’s slot for Paris 2024 thanks to their women’s team finishing highest ranked at the 2022 ISA World Surfing Games. Qualification for that slot will be determined by USA Surfing and the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (NOC).
All earned Paris 2024 slots are subject to nomination by the respective NOC and meeting the ISA Olympic Eligibility Requirements.
