Remembering the qualifiers, hierarchical order and classification criteria for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

The final stretch for Olympic qualification in the discipline of surfing is just around the corner and this weekend the most memorable world championship in the history of this sport will begin.

Despite not breaking the record for participating nations set in 2019, the 52 participating countries will be vying for the final 12 Olympic berths. The countries present are: Afghanistan, Algeria, American Samoa, Argentina, Australia, Barbados, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Taipei, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Russia, Senegal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, U.S. Virgin Islands, Ukraine, United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

Costa Rica will have an important mission: to seek the three Olympic spots still up for grabs for our country. However, they will have to fight against world-class surfers and try to reach the final stages or advance as many rounds as possible, hoping that the opponents who manage to reach the finals do not harm a possible qualification in relation to the position obtained by the Costa Ricans (all this is variable to the hierarchical order of classification and qualifying system).

In a more detailed explanation, we provide the current qualifiers and the classification criteria applied by the International Surfing Association (ISA) for the competition:

Male:

- 10 Surfers CT: 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 Jeremy Flores in France, Jordy Smith from South Africa and Kanoa Igarashi from Japan.

- 5 places up for grabs at the 2021 World Surfing Games.

- 4 surfers from the 2019 World Surfing Games: Frederico Morais (Portugal), Ramzi Boukhiam (Morocco), Shun Murakami (Japan) and Billy Stairmand (New Zealand).

- 1 surfer from the 2019 Pan American Games: Lucca Mesinas (PER).

Female:

- 8 CT surfers: Carissa Moore and Caroline Marks for the United States, Stephanie Gilmore and Sally Fitzgibbons for Australia, Tatiana Weston-Webb and Silvana Lima will represent Brazil, Johanne Defay will surf for France and Brisa Hennessy for Costa Rica.

- 7 Olympic places up for grabs for the 2021 World Surfing Games.

- 4 surfers qualified for the 2019 World Surfing Games: Bianca Buitendag (South Africa), Shino Matsuda (Japan), Anat Lelior (Israel) and Ella Williams (New Zealand).

- 1 surfer from the 2019 Pan American Games: Daniella Rosas (PER).

We are sharing with you the official document of the classification system implemented by the International Surfing Association (ISA) for Olympic qualification with the respective order of qualification time:

A noteworthy fact about the 2021 World Surfing Games in El Salvador is the absence, due to injury, of the American qualifiers Kolohe Andino, John John Florence, and Kelly Slater (third eligible option). Consequently, the fourth and fifth eligible options will not be present and will therefore have to wait for the recovery of the first two spots, a risky situation, since if they do not recover, they could be left without Olympic representation.

The road ahead will not be easy, however, determination, focus and the desire to be part of the first edition of surfing as an Olympic sport will be key for the Costa Rican team to achieve its goal.

Written by: Enrique Hernández

General Management: Marco Montero