Special coverage presented by Surf City El Salvador 

As expected, the 2021 Surf City ISA World Surfing Games, which will take place in La Bocana and El Sunzal between May 29 and June 6, will break the all-time record for the number of athletes at the event, with 257 athletes, the ISA reported in a statement.

In addition, a significant record will be broken in the number of women participating, with 121 registered, which also means almost half of the participants, a record for the event; “in 2019, 103 women accounted for 42% of the participants,” the press release states.

The record-breaking event in Miyazaki 55 did not reach 2019 participating nations. The reason seems to be quite clear.

Participating countries 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, US Virgin Islands, Ukraine, United States, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Some of the main changes among the entrants are the absence of CT members from the United States team, only Carissa Moore and Caroline Marks will be present. Slater, Florence, Andino and Peterson, the four injured, were not present, but neither were their direct substitutes (Moniz, Colapinto, Coffin and Conlogue).

This leaves the United States in a difficult situation because if neither Andino, Kolohe, nor Slater recover, they would not fill the two Olympic quotas. The same would happen if Marks or Moore were injured.

The rest of the CT members confirmed their presence: all the Australians, all the French, all the Brazilians, the South Africans, etc.

And there are also former world champions like Lele Usuna, Santiago Muñiz, Nacho Gundensen, Noe Mar McGonagle, Vahine Fierro and Sofía Mulanovich.

The home team at Tokyo 2020 is looking powerful, with Kanoa Igarashi, Shino Matsuda, Shun Murakami, Amaru Tsuzuki, Hiroto Ohhara and Mahina Maeda.

Algeria and Ukraine will make their debut at the event.

“While we had to wait a year, the 2021 edition of the World Surfing Games will undoubtedly be one of the most special in history. It has been a challenging time for everyone around the world, but we have shown our resilience. Our sport and our community are stronger than ever,” said ISA President Fernando Aguerre, according to the statement.

“I would like to extend my deepest thanks to the Government of El Salvador, the organizers of the event, as well as to the people of El Salvador for their warm welcome and strong support,” he added.