Brisa Hennessy and Jack Robinson have dropped out of the next Olympic qualifier just days before the event. Australia replaced Robinson with Liam O’Brien, while Costa Rica replaced Hennessy with 12-year-old Mikela Castro.
The World Surfing Games, which run from November 6-15, will award an LA 2028 Olympic slot to the top men’s and women’s teams. The winning countries can fill these slots as they please. Plus, it can become an “extra” third slot if the country fills its quota through other qualification events.
Hennessy pulled out of the event to shore up her requalification status for the 2027 Championship Tour. Currently ranked 18th, below the top-14 requalification mark, the Costa Rican-born, Hawaii-raised surfer will rely on the Challenger Series to stay on the tour.
“Even though I was initially going to be part of Costa Rica’s team in this important event, unfortunately I won’t be able to join the team due to my commitment in Taiwan,” Hennessy wrote in Spanish on her Instagram story. “I am hoping to be able to guarantee my qualification for the next Olympic Games via the Championship Tour as soon as possible.”
Hennessy is fourth in the Challenger ranking after winning the Ericeira Pro. The top six surfers on the Challengers qualify for the CT. Hennessy passed up the Olympic qualifier to compete in the Taiwan Open of Surfing, a QS 6000 event taking place November 14-22.
A new wrinkle in the WSL’s revamped 2026 format is that one QS event counts toward the Challengers ranking. Hennessy will look for a good result in Taiwan to improve her chances for CT requalification. However, she could still requalify via her CT ranking with a strong showing at the season’s last event at Pipeline. Realistically, she’ll probably need at least a semifinal appearance to gain enough ground.
Qualifying for the 2027 tour is crucial for Olympic qualification given that a mix of the 2027 and 2028 tours — between August 15, 2027 and June 15, 2028 — will factor into qualification.
Neither Surfing Australia nor Jack Robinson explained why he won’t be able to attend the Olympic qualifier. Robinson posted on his Instagram stories that he was attending a Chanel event in Sydney, a brand he has partnered with.
While Hennessy and Robinson had other priorities, it appears that most of the CT surfers selected to compete in the World Surfing Games will fulfill their duties. Surfers including Gabriel Medina, Steph Gilmore, Yago Dora, Italo Ferreira, Carissa Moore, Kanoa Igarashi, Kauli Vaast, and others are present in Peru to gun for the Olympic slots.
