2023 ISA World Surfing Games: these surfers qualified for Paris 2024
Eight Paris 2024 quotas were given out at the 2023 ISA World Surfing Games in El Salvador. Get to know the athletes who qualified and watch all the action live on Olympics.com.
Surfing
Eight athletes have qualified for the surfing competition at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games through the 2023 ISA World Surfing Games with France, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa taking two slots each.
Four male and four female surfers from four continents – Africa, Asia, Europe and Oceania - received tickets to Paris based on the results of the competition.
South Africa’s Jordy Smith and Sarah Baum took the first quotas as the highest-ranked male and female athletes from Africa.
France, Japan and New Zealand will also have at least two surfers at Paris 2024.
Japan's Kanoa Igarashi took the men's slot for Asia and will have a chance to add another Olympic medal to his collection. He took the silver in the home Games at Tokyo 2020. Igarashi's teammate Shino Matsuda took the women's spot for Asia after narrowly missing out on her home Games three years ago.
French surfers Vahine Fierro and Kauli Vaast took the European spots. Both are Tahiti natives and promise to be a formidable force on the infamous Teahupo'o wave.
Tokyo 2020 Olympian Billy Stairmand has taken the men’s spot for Oceania while his teammate Saffi Vette will be making her Olympic debut after taking the women’s quota for the continent.
The eight new Tahiti-bound surfers join Brazil’s Tatiana Weston-Webb, Costa Rica’s Brisa Hennessy, France’s Johanne Defay, and Portugal’s Teresa Bonvalot who qualified earlier through the World Championship Tour.
Get to know the surfers who qualified through the 2023 ISA World Surfing Games and hear their first reactions after getting the golden ticket.
Jordy Smith, South Africa: A second chance
Known for his power on the waves and innovative aerials, Jordy Smith had also qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. A month before the Olympics, however, he tore his LCL and ultimately made the decision not to compete.
But his hunger to become an Olympian remained as strong as ever and Smith battled hard in El Salvador to clinch another ticket to the Games.
“Missing (Tokyo) 2020 definitely hurt and made me strive more now to be able to get there for 2024 Paris,” he told Olympics.com. “Yes, you have ups and downs in life, but it's how you deal with it and how you come back that's really the story.”
Sarah Baum, South Africa: In the shadow no more
Like her teammate Smith, Baum was also watching the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games from the sidelines.
Her childhood training partner Bianca Buitendag was in the final line-up and went on to take the silver medal for South Africa, making Baum even more eager to showcase her own talent.
“I grew up surfing with Bianca. We're always neck and neck in each event and back then, we always thought that her and I would be on this on the Championship Tour and maybe at the Olympics at the same time,” Baum told Olympics.com. “I still feel like I deserve that.
"I've grown so much more than when I was younger. I feel like now is the time to do it and everything's falling into place.”
Billy Stairmand, New Zealand: Second Olympics
Of the athletes qualified through the 2023 ISA World Surfing Games thus far, Billy Stairmand is the only one who also competed at Tokyo 2020, where he finished ninth.
But while Stairmand has already made history as one of the 40 surfers competing in the inaugural Olympic surfing competition, this did not lesson his enthusiasm at getting a ticket to Paris 2024 – or his drive to tackle one of the world’s toughest waves.
“The surf’s going to be totally different to Japan. I’m already looking at the flights going over to Tahiti and getting some practice in and getting used to the bigger waves,” Stairmand told Olympics.com. “It’s going to be scary. It’s meant to be really big and a shallow reef comes from deep water. A really powerful open ocean out there.”
Saffi Vette, New Zealand: Childhood dream
For Saffi Vette, getting a ticket to Paris 2024 was a childhood dream fulfilled.
The 21-year-old missed out on qualifying to Tokyo 2020 at the 2021 ISA World Surfing Games, also held in El Salvador, and felt especially proud being able to reverse the outcome on the same waves two years later.
“Tokyo looked amazing and it was the first time surfing was in the Olympics and I just gained so much fire in my belly to be able to compete and qualify for 2024,” Vette told Olympics.com.
“I’ve dreamt since I was a little kid being in the Olympics. I grew up watching the Olympics in every single sport that I loved doing and I finally chose surfing and to have surfing in the Olympics is a huge, huge opportunity for us."
Kanoa Igarashi, Japan: Silver medallist returns for gold
All eyes on were on local hero Kanoa Igarashi when he stepped onto his surfboard at Tokyo 2020. Not buckling under the pressure, Igarashi delivered a medal as was expected of him, but as it was silver, the ambitious surfer is still far from satisfied.
With Olympic gold in his sights, Igarashi is perfectly on track to achieve his mission, winning the 2022 ISA World Surfing Games to earn Team Japan an extra quota for the men, and seizing his individual ticket at the 2023 edition of the Games in El Salvador.
“It’s such an honour to be in this position," Igarashi said. "Tokyo feels like it just the other day, I have so many good memories from that event and from that moment. The Olympics changed my life and to be here again in a position where I can go there and represent my country and try to get another medal, it means the world to me."
Shino Matsuda, Japan: Bouncing back from missing home Games
Unlike Igarashi, Matsuda missed out on qualifying to Tokyo 2020, missing out on qualification at the 2021 ISA World Surfing Games in El Salvador.
But at the 2023 edition of the Games the young star surpassed her more experienced teammates, including Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist Amuro Tsuzuki, to take the women’s quota for Asia.
“Last time in El Salvador, I was very disappointed when I missed the opportunity to compete at the Tokyo Olympics,” Matsuda told Olympics.com. “It was a very sad experience, but I was able to turn it into a positive factor that ‘I will definitely qualify for the next Olympics’, so now I think it was a good experience.”
Kauli Vaast, France: Fearless on Teahupo’o
Kauli Vaast may still be a rising star on the international surfing scene, but when it comes to Teahupo’o, the 21-year-old will be the one the world's best surfers are keeping their eye on.
Born and raised within minutes of one of the world’s most famous waves, Vaast has been surfing it since he was a child. In 2022, he turned heads when he got a wildcard to Tahiti Pro and surfed into the final, finishing second to Brazil’s Miguel Pupo who is 10 years his senior.
“This is something very special for me," Vaast said after receiving his ticket to Paris 2024. "I worked hard to qualify one day and to have the chance to be at the Olympics at home, that’s something that was a big dream. I did everything to make it and now I’m in. I’m super stoked.”
Vahine Fierro, France: Welcoming the world to Tahiti
While most surfers are looking at the iconic Teahupo’o wave with trepidation, for France’s Vahine Fierro it is home. The Olympic surfing venue is less than 200km from Huahine, the island where she was born and raised.
The possibility of becoming an Olympic champion on home waters is something the 23-year-old surfer is excited about, as she is about welcoming the global surfing community there.
“Home is where the Olympics are,” Fierro said. “I’m feeling so excited to be an Olympian for the first time at home. I couldn’t have asked for better.
“Expect a big show with a lot of power, grace, and a lot of kindness as well with the local people there. I think that it’s a place where nobody can understand how special it is until they go there and feel the vibe and they will feel it through the TV as well.”