Surfing’s Olympic pathway to LA 2028 is official. Photo: Beatriz Ryder//Pablo Franco//ISA
The International Surfing Association has announced sweeping changes to the Olympic qualification system for LA 2028. The new pathway backloads qualification to the 2028 calendar year and increases the importance of the World Surfing Games relative to the WSL Championship Tour. It also raises the country quota from two surfers of each gender per country to three.
The most notable change – which confirms details that were leaked last week – reduces the number of surfers who will qualify via the WSL CT. For Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024, the CT qualified 10 men and 8 women, a limit of two surfers of each gender per country. For LA 2028, that will be reduced to five surfers of each gender with a cap of one surfer per country. Plus, it will pull from the CT ranking as of June 15, 2028, rather than the complete ranking of the previous season.
If we look at the 2025 final CT ranking, the top-five CT qualifiers according to the updated system would have been as follows:
- Men: Yago Dora, Griffin Colapinto, Jordy Smith, Jack Robinson, and Kanoa Igarashi
- Women: Molly Picklum, Caroline Marks, Erin Brooks, Luana Silva, and Vahine Fierro
However, if we use the 2026 CT calendar as a reference, only five events will factor into the 2028 CT qualification before the June 15 cutoff. Consequently, if we analyze only the first five events of 2025, five different surfers would qualify. It demonstrates how a smaller sample size affects the qualification landscape.
After five events, it would have been:
- Men: Italo Ferreira, Ethan Ewing, Jordy Smith, Kanoa Igarashi, and Barron Mamiya
- Women: Gabriela Bryan, Molly Picklum, Brisa Hennessy, Erin Brooks, and Vahine Fierro
The total of 24 men and 24 women remains the same, despite the ISA’s effort to increase the field to 36 each.
The 2028 World Surfing Games will now serve as the centerpiece of the qualification process, qualifying 10 men and 10 women with a cap of one surfer per country. This shift places a massive premium on the Olympic year itself. Previously, 25 percent of men and 33 percent of women qualified during the year of the Olympics; now, 63 percent of the total field will qualify in 2028. This percentage is likely to rise due to specific caveats: if the host nation (USA) slots are filled through regular means, which they most certainly will, their reserved spot rolls over to the 2028 WSG. Similarly, if top-25 quality controls for the 2027 WSG are not met, those spots also roll over to 2028.
In summary, the new system will reward surfers more for how they are currently competing instead of their performances in previous years.
While the new system allows for up to three surfers per country, achieving that maximum will be more difficult. Because the CT and the 2028 WSG are both capped at one surfer per country, a nation looking to send three athletes must have success across three different qualification events.
This change will theoretically make the World Surfing Games much more competitive starting in 2026. Dominant nations like Brazil, USA, and Australia can no longer rely on qualifying their entire squad via the CT. They must now perform at multiple ISA events to max out their rosters, likely ending the era of CT surfers not prioritizing the ISA competitions.
“The updates to the qualification system reflect the ISA’s dedication to making sure the world’s best surfers have the best possible opportunity to earn their place at LA28,” said ISA President Fernando Aguerre in the press release. “We have worked closely with the IOC, the athletes, and other stakeholders to deliver a clear and fair process.”
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Here is a breakdown of the complete qualification in hierarchical order. The men’s and women’s systems are identical for LA 2028:
- 2028 WSL CT – Top five surfers, limit of one per country.
- 2028 ISA WSG – Top ten surfers, limit of one per country.
- Continental Slots
- 2026 Asian Games – One surfer.
- 2027 Pan American Games – One surfer.
- 2027 European Surfing Championship – One surfer.
- 2027 ISA WSG – Top surfers from Africa and Oceania. Must finish top 25.
- 2026 & 2027 ISA WSG – The highest-ranked team per gender will earn one slot. The surfer for that country likely won’t be named until 2028.
- Host Nation – One spot reserved for USA.
- Universality – One surfer from an underdeveloped nation. Eligible National Olympic Committees apply for this slot. The athlete must place within the top-40 at the 2027 or 2028 WSG.
View the full qualification system here.
The LA 2028 Olympic Games will take place from July 14 to 30, with surfing held at Lower Trestles. The qualification journey begins at the 2026 World Surfing Games, with dates and locations to be determined (no sooner than June 11, 2026).
