2021 World Surf League

2020-21 World Surf League
LocationHawaii, Australia, The United States of America, Mexico
DatesDecember 4th 2020 - September 17th 2021
Champions
MenBrazil Gabriel Medina
WomenHawaii Carissa Moore
← 2019
2022 →

The 2020-21 World Surf League was the 44th season of all iterations of the tour circuit for professional surfers. After the 2020 season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, limiting international travel between and within countries namely Australia, Indonesia, Portugal and South Africa.[1] The board changed the tour to a wraparound season of 2020-21, which allowed major changes to the tour schedule, with the Billabong Pipe Masters becoming the first round of the tour.[2]

The season also saw some new events introduced due to COVID-19 outbreaks and restrictions on travel within countries, notably Australia, who required surfers to quarantine in Sydney for 14 days upon arrival.[3] Narrabeen was chosen as a replacement for the Gold Coast, while Newcastle returned to the tour for the first time in 10 years to replace Bells Beach.[3] The women's championship tour will compete in Teahupo'o, French Polynesia for the first time in 15 years, while Mexico was added to the championship for the first time to replace the round left vacant by Jeffrey's Bay, due to the COVID outbreak in South Africa.[4]

For the first time, the season will end at Lower Trestles, in San Clemente, USA, with the top five seeded men and women from the season going head to head to determine the champion at the WSL Finals.[5][6] This was put in place after the positive response to the men's championship event in 2019, as well as allowing surfers who had to isolate with COVID-19 an opportunity to still win the title.[7]

Carissa Moore and Ítalo Ferreira were the defending champions.

  1. ^ "World Surf League cancels 2020 season due to coronavirus pandemic". For The Win. 2020-07-17. Retrieved 2021-04-16.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b "World Surf League Confirms Championship Tour Events For Australian Leg". World Surf League. Retrieved 2021-04-15.
  4. ^ "Factbox: Surfing-World Championship Tour 2021 schedule". Reuters. 2020-07-17. Retrieved 2021-04-16.
  5. ^ "Rip Curl WSL Finals". www.ripcurl.com. Retrieved 2021-04-16.
  6. ^ "WSL to introduce final-day surf-off for world title from 2021". the Guardian. Australian Associated Press. 2020-04-29. Retrieved 2021-04-16.
  7. ^ Weisberg, Zach. "Opinion: The WSL Finals Is a Huge Improvement to Pro Surfing". The Inertia. Retrieved 2021-04-16.