Cover photo: Billy Watts

The most important championship in the history of the ISA, the 2020 World Surfing Games, will take place between May 9 and 17 in El Salvador, the organization has just confirmed in a press release and on social media.

This event will be the last qualifying step for the debut of the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020, for which there are still 12 places available (seven women and five men).

The waves of El Sunzal and La Bocana will be used to hold the tournament, which is expected to have a record number of entrants.

The tournament is taking place within the framework of the strong support for surfing that the new president, Nayib Bukele, has promoted within the framework of the Surf City El Salvador project.

“We are proud that our country will always be remembered and associated with the historic recognition of surfing as an Olympic sport,” Bukele told the ISA. “We welcome surfers and tourists from around the world. This event will be the window that will showcase our world-class waves and destination: Surf City El Salvador. Our country is open and ready to receive new ideas, challenges and innovation,” he added.

“This Olympic qualifying event is a historic event for Surf City El Salvador and we are sure that it will contribute to the consolidation of our beautiful country as a primary surfing destination,” he concluded.

The tournament is expected to feature some of the best surfers in history, including Kelly Slater, John John Florence, Gabriel Medina and Steph Gilmore, among others. They, who have already qualified, will face the best of the emerging countries who will be looking for the last available spots for Tokyo 2020.

ISA President Fernando Aguerre said: “We are delighted to continue our strong relationship with President Nayib Bukele, Minister Morena Valdez and the Government of El Salvador to bring another ISA World Championship to their beautiful country. The ISA World Surfing Games will bring an unprecedented level of global attention to the country and its nearly inexhaustible wave resource throughout the year. We look forward to building momentum towards Tokyo 2020 by showcasing the youthful, high-performance values ​​of our sport that will contribute to the great success of the Games.”