There are future world champs in El Salvador this week. It’s anyone’s guess who they are. Photo: Pablo Jimenez//ISA
Between Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024, 71 surfers became Olympians. But before rising to the most-viewed event in sports, 62 of them represented their nation at the ISA Junior Championships. Statistically speaking, hidden among the hundreds of young surfers in El Salvador this week, there are future Championship Tour surfers, Olympians, and cultural icons — we just don’t know who they are yet.
Before you knew about Gabriel Medina, Filipe Toledo, Caity Simmers, Steph Gilmore, and Tyler Wright, they were busy winning this event eons ago. Even many of the surfers who trended more toward the freesurfing route and away from the CT — think: Michael February, Victor Bernardo, and Eithan Osborne — did their national duty and competed in the ISA junior champs.
If you scroll through the heat sheets, you might not recognize a single name. But that’s the point. In 2010, no one knew that scrawny kid with braces from Maresias, Brazil had a few world titles in his future until he started punting airs like an adult.
Medina’s 2010 junior title hinted at a storied surfing career to come. Photo: ISA
Finding the next big names in the sport will be like finding a needle in a haystack. There are 427 surfers from 56 countries. It’ll take 132 heats to get through the first round of the different age divisions. Yes, 132.
The event will take place from September 4 to 13 across two podiums at La Bocana and El Sunzal, venues that also hosted the event in 2024.
Australia won the last two editions and will be led by the defending boys’ under-16 champ, Ocean Lancaster.
The 2026 edition is the latest cog in El Salvador’s eight-years-and-running “Surf City” rebrand. Last year El Salvador changed its constitution to remove term limits on presidents. So if regional history tells us anything, the mastermind behind the country’s surf makeover, President Nayib Bukele, might be around for a long time. In other words: Expect more CT events, more Olympic qualifiers, and more junior champs to be crowned in El Salvador.
Catch the event live this week and next on isasurf.org.
