Rebecca Henriquez
@RebeHenriquez
The “iconic” waves of Salvador will be the venue for the twentieth edition of the ISA World Junior Surfing Championship 2024 (WJSC) that will bring together the best junior surfers in the world in Surf City El Salvador, from May 3 to 13, in La Bocana and the Sunzal.
The International Surfing Association (ISA) highlighted that 33 of the 40 Tokyo 2020 Olympic surfers previously participated in WJSC, which demonstrates the “prestige” of the event that is a direct route to the Olympic Games, where 16 of them won medals in the association’s Junior World Cup and also highlights the American Olympic bronze medalist Owen Wright, and the WSL world champion Caroline Marks.
The Salvadoran waves will host the most important international youth surfing competition for the second time, which will be held from May 3 to 12.
According to the ISA, some surfers qualified for Paris 2024 have also stood on the WJSC podium, including Marks from the United States and Filipe Toledo from Brazil. In addition, 12 of the former medalists will return to compete, including the Under-16 World Champion, the Spanish Hans Odriozola.
This edition will have a record participation with 442 athletes representing 54 national teams, thus surpassing the record that was established in 2023. In addition, the current world team champions, in this case Brazil, will fight to retain the title.
Among other data highlighted by the ISA is also the unprecedented participation of four national teams, such as the British Virgin Islands, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia.
The 442 athletes will compete in four divisions: female under-16 and under-18 and in the same categories, the male.
In the competition there will be 194 participants in the women’s category, which represents 43% of the total. The association has ensured that there is equality for both men and women throughout the world championship series.
This Friday, May 3, the opening ceremony was held and from the 4th to the 11th the competition will take place in La Bocana and Sunzal, and on the 12th of this same month there will be the final and the closing ceremony.
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