Kanoa Igarashi (probably) booked his ticket to LA 2028. Photo: Sean Evans//ISA
Japanese surfers Kanoa Igarashi and Mirai Ikeda won the respective men’s and women’s divisions at the 2026 Asian Games in Tahara, Japan, becoming the first surfers to “provisionally” qualify for the LA 2028 Olympics at Lower Trestles.
After taking down fellow Championship Tour surfer Connor O’Leary in round three, Igarashi defeated Indonesia’s I Made Pajar Ariyana in the final. Ikeda defeated China’s Siqi Yang in the women’s final.
When it comes to Olympic qualification, the word “provisional” gets tossed around a lot to hedge against various qualification scenarios. Since the Asian Games falls under the continental slots — the third tier of qualification — there are scenarios, however unlikely, in which neither Igarashi nor Ikeda qualify for LA 2028.
Given there is a limit of two surfers per gender that can qualify from each country, if two Japanese men or women qualify via the WSL CT and the 2028 World Surfing Games, which both rank higher in the hierarchy, Igarashi’s and Ikeda’s wins would be irrelevant. The Olympic slots would go to the second-place surfers.
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Barring any major injury or unforeseen circumstances, Igarashi is a strong candidate to be among the eight men who qualify via the 2027-2028 CT. The new rules limit the CT qualification to one surfer per country, which gives an advantage to surfers from countries with less representation on the tour, like Japan.
I Made Pajar Ariyana’s second-place finish could factor into the qualification if Igarashi double-qualifies. His silver medal was possible because Rio Waida decided not to take one of Indonesia’s two team slots, saying it was unfair that he didn’t participate in the Asian Games qualification events.
Similarly, if Japan qualifies two women through the CT or 2028 World Surfing Games, Yang’s silver medal could help secure entry into the LA 2028 Games.
Olympic qualification continues in November at the World Surfing Games in Peru. The highest-ranked team of each gender will secure a slot for their country that they can fill with any athlete.
