Costa Rica will have their last chance to qualify at the World Cup in El Salvador.

As many surf lovers know, this discipline will be part of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. This news has positively impacted the surfing community, a sport in which our country has already had the opportunity to be world champion.

The International Surfing Association managed to incorporate the discipline into the games, after several years of hard work and despite the pandemic everything points to the games taking place.

The qualification process has been something new for everyone, and now in the final stretch for an Olympic spot, the competition will be historic at the World Championships in El Salvador, which will take place from May 29 to June 6.

Currently, the qualifiers are distributed as follows:

In the men's section, 10 spaces are occupied by CT competitors from the World Surf League (WSL Championship Tour).

-Gabriel Medina and Italo Ferreira representing Brazil.
-Kolohe Andino and John John Florence in the United States.
-Owen Wright and Julian Wilson representing Australia.
- Michel Bourez and Jeremey Flores in France.

- Jordy Smith from South Africa.
- Kanoa Igarashi from Japan.

1. Qualified via the 2019 Pan American Games , which is Lucca Mesinas from Peru.

The 2019 ISA World Surfing Games brought in four more competitors:

- Frederico Morais (Portugal).
- Ramzi Boukhiam (Morocco).
- Shun Murakami (Japan).
- Billy Stairmand (New Zealand).

Leaving five more places, which will be determined at the 2021 World Surfing Games.

In the women's section, the first eight spots will be filled by CT surfers from the World Surf League:

- Carissa Moore and Caroline Marks for the United States.
- Steph Gilmore and Sally Fitzgibbons for Australia.
- Tatiana Weston-Webb and Silvana Lima will represent Brazil.
- Johanne Defay will represent France.
- Brisa Hennessy will compete for Costa Rica.

Daniella Rosas from Peru qualified through the 2019 Pan American Games .

The 2019 World Surfing Games qualified the following athletes:

- Bianca Buitendag (South Africa).

- Shino Matsuda (Japan).

- Anat Lelior (Israel).

- Ella Williams (New Zealand).

All this leaves seven open slots for Olympic hopefuls, which will be determined at the 2021 World Games.

There is very little time left to define all the qualifiers, however, some series can already be made for the first round of the competitions which, according to the International Surfing Association (ISA), will not be an elimination round, but rather a qualifying round.

Therefore, for the first round, there will be two WCT surfers per series (this taking the 2019 ranking), along with two surfers from the World Games or one from the Pan American Games.

Then there will be a second round that will determine the first eliminated athletes and the 16 athletes who will continue in search of the first Olympic surfing medal.

Now all that remains is to determine the final positions and possible qualification variables in El Salvador, where Costa Rica would have one more female opportunity and two male places to compete for to attend the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, which will be held in Shida Shita Beach between July 25 and August 1.

Written by: Enrique Hernández

General Management: Marco Montero