The WSL has just announced it’s returning to the wave known as ‘The Jewel of Central America’, whilst the Californian A frame will again crown the men’s and women’s world champions.
“To see the WSL Final 5 go head-to-head in amazing waves and to witness the women’s and men’s world titles be decided on the same day… for the first time was special” said WSL Ceo Erik Logan in an official press release. (The 2021 Finals day) was the most-watched day of professional surfing with the largest live digital audience in WSL History. We are excited to return to Lower’s this season”.
The top five surfers from both divisions will battle it out ‘winner takes all’ style to decide who will finish the year atop the WSL standings from the 8-16th of September.
The WSL have also introduced a new stop for the tour, the right hand point break of Punta Roca in El Savador. ‘Surf City El Salvador presented by Corona’ will play out in early June making it the seventh stop of the 2022 season.
For the first time, 2022 will see the men and women follow the same tour around the world, Sunset beach gets the call up to the CT for stop two and surfers will this year head to the fabled left hand break of G-Land in May.
Another new feature of 2022 is the mid-year cut, not quite matching the criticised ‘rotation’ that was removed by the then ASP in 2012, but a clear cut from the field. The men’s 36 will drop to 24 and the women’s 18 down to 12 after the Margaret River Pro which will wrap up in May.
The 2022 WSL world tour will feature 10 events in seven countries kicking off at the end of January with the Billabong Pipeline Pro and drawing to a close at Teahupo’o (which was cancelled at the last minute thanks to COVID last year) though the champs will not be crowned until the Final 5 from the men’s and women’s tours fight it out in September to finish the year.
While Trestles proved to be a worthy spectacle as a finals day location many fans were hoping to see the WSL experiment with a new location to decide the world champions. Alas, it will be cobblestones and cruisey A-frames again. Hopefully, this is not a fixed venue for finals and we will see the WSL take a few risks with the finals series in future years. For now, all eyes turn to the Pipe Masters, which kicks off on January 29. Given Kelly Slater’s staunch anti-vax stance it may be the only chance we get to see him surf in an event this year.
