The World Surf League (WSL) announced the cancellation of its 2020 Championship Tour (CT) and Qualifying Series (QS) seasons. The professional surfing circuit decided to end this year’s competition due to COVID-19.
“After careful consideration and extensive discussions with key stakeholders, we have made the decision to cancel the 2020 Championship Tour and Qualifying Series seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said WSL CEO Erik Logan in a video released on WSL channels. “While we firmly believe that surfing is amongst the sports best suited for competition to be held safely during the age of unresolved COVID, we have huge respect for the ongoing concerns of many in our community as the world works to resolve this.”
As a result, WSL is planning to kick off the 2021 CT season earlier. The upcoming surfing season starts in November 2020 in Maui, Hawaii for the women and in December 2020 in Oahu, Hawaii for the men. The proposal is still subject to the approval of the State of Hawaii and local government agencies. WSL is also basing its strategy on international travel permissions.
If everything goes according to the original plan, the 2021 CT season will wrap up with “The WSL Finals,” a new one-off world title event format to be held in September 2021. Further details are available here.
Photo courtesy WSL
