The 2018 edition of the World Surfing Games (WSG) taking place in Tahara, Japan from September 15-22 has both important Olympic and Pan American implications, especially Pan American ones.

On the path leading to Tokyo 2020, the implication is indirect but no less important: the results of these Japanese WSG will be those that generate the pre-qualifications and the seeding order for the 2019 WSG that will end up classifying athletes (the best from Africa, Europe, Asia and Oceania) for the Olympic Games.

It is especially important for countries in these regions to finish well at the World Surfing Games so that they do not have to deal with difficult round 1 matches in the same event next year.

A good example is New Zealand, the Kiwis will see Australia gaining their CT slots and have a great chance of securing two qualifications in this event.

The same could be said of Spain, which will probably have France qualified by the CT and would fight with Portugal for the place given to Europe in the 2019 WSG event, it is convenient to have a good pre-qualification.

This is probably why they put together the dream team that announced today (find out here).

Regarding the Pan American Games, things are more straightforward: The two best male athletes and the two best female athletes from the member countries of the Pan American Surfing Association located in the WSG will be guaranteed a place in Lima 2019.

These positions will be unquestionable because the hierarchical scale for short board classification criteria puts the ISA in first place. That is, if the best Pan American surfer in Tahara is placed 15th, his place cannot be taken by a compatriot either in the Pan American Games or in the ALAS circuit.