Introducing the World Surf League Class of 2015
LOS ANGELES, California/USA (Monday, December 22, 2014) - The 2014 Samsung Galaxy ASP World Championship Tour season has come to a close, with Brazilian phenom Gabriel Media clinching his inaugural men’s title and Australian sensation Stephanie Gilmore claiming a sixth women’s title.
The Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) will become the World Surf League (WSL) in 2015, delivering the athleticism, adventure and competitive drama of the world’s best surfers in the world’s best waves from around the globe.
The 2015 elite Men’s Championship Tour (CT) will be contested by the WSL Top 34, made up of the top 22 finishers on 2014 CT season, the top 10 finishers on the 2014 Qualifying Series (QS) and two WSL wildcards.
2014 Top 22 CT:
- Gabriel Medina (BRA)
- Mick Fanning (AUS)
- John John Florence (HAW)
- Kelly Slater (USA)
- Michel Bourez (PYF)
- Joel Parkinson (AUS)
- Jordy Smith (ZAF)
- Adriano de Souza (BRA)
- Taj Burrow (AUS)
- Josh Kerr (AUS)
- Kolohe Andino (USA)
- Owen Wright (AUS)
- Nat Young (USA)
- Julian Wilson (AUS)
- Adrian Buchan (AUS)
- Bede Durbidge (AUS)
- Filipe Toledo (BRA)
- Kai Otton (AUS)
- Miguel Pupo (BRA)
- Sebastian Zietz (HAW)
- Freddy Patacchia Jr. (HAW)
- Jadson Andre (BRA)
2014 Top 10 QS (minus double qualifiers from CT):
- Matt Banting (AUS)
- Wiggolly Dantas (BRA)
- Adam Melling (AUS)
- Italo Ferreira (BRA)
- Matt Wilkinson (AUS)
- Keanu Asing (HAW)
- Dusty Payne (HAW)
- Jeremy Flores (FRA)
- Brett Simpson (USA)
- Ricardo Christie (NZL)
WSL Wildcards: C.J. Hobgood (USA) and Glenn Hall (IRL)
The 2015 elite Women’s Championship Tour (CT) will be contested by the WSL Top 17, comprised of the top 10 finishers on the 2014 CT, the top six finishers on the 2014 QS and the WSL wildcard.
2014 Top 10 CT:
- Stephanie Gilmore (AUS)
- Tyler Wright (AUS)
- Carissa Moore (HAW)
- Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS)
- Malia Manuel (HAW)
- Lakey Peterson (AUS)
- Bianca Buitendag (ZAF)
- Johanne Defay (FRA)
- Courtney Conlogue (USA)
- Laura Enever (AUS)
2014 Top 6 QS (minus double qualifiers from CT):
- Silvana Lima (BRA)
- Coco Ho (HAW)
- Sage Erickson (USA)
- Nikki Van Dijk (AUS)
- Tatiana Weston-Webb (HAW)
- Alessa Quizon (HAW)
WSL Wildcard: Dimity Stoyle
Comments
Interesting to see the country breakdown: we've got 12 Australians in the Mens Top 32 (4 of whom are in the Top 10).
Plus 7 Brazilians, 5 Hawaiians, 4 Americans, then 1 each from France, Tahiti, New Zealand and South Africa.
We've also got 6 Australians in the Womens Top 16 (plus 5 Hawaiians, 2 Americans, and then 1 each from South Africa, France and Brazil).
Yes intersting Ben. Cheers. So from an Aussie POV that's pretty impressive I would of thought. I've read a lot about the Brazillian domination from various people on SN & it may be coming but for the time being the Aussies are still a solid force....
When I get a moment I'll go through previous years to get percentages, so that we can compare overall trends.
Get Lindy on tour.
We'd all love another podium finish from her : )
Awesome to see Ricardo on tour, he is one of the 'freesurf' standouts. Shame to see Dion Atkinson drop off, I thought he would have done a lot better in Europe, solid wedgy beachies.
The curious thing to me is how CJ and Glenn Hall got the injury wildcard over Alejo (check last years stats). Its like they held off from the year before when Glenn was robbed a position by Tiago. great to see a Hobgood on the tour though, best surfers in all conditions.
Nothing against Fanning, you really can't dislike the guy, but Dion got shafted by the judges in France.
Glad to see CJ is back.
Why do they talk about Hawaiians as if they're not part of the USA? I never got the HAW/USA separation?
Okay so the analogy is not technically right but in a cultural sense would you (assuming you are Australian) like to be called a Brit, or (even better) a Pom? And think about being Aboriginal and labeled a Pom?
Ethnic/native Hawaiians don't exactly like the fact their islands were taken over by the USA and turned into farm lands and military bases.
Surfing culture in Hawaii is quite close to traditional Hawaii culture (I'm stating the obvious here) so there is that same "staunch" view in surfing circles about Hawaii not really being part of the USA.
As the oldest and strongest surfing culture with the claim to surfing's birthplace, I think they have too much cultural pride to let themselves get swallowed up by the yanks.
I certainly wouldn't want to press the point in an Oahu pub.
Go Ricardo.
I think Swellnet had this as a item a while ago: http://vimeo.com/97645196
The Hawaiians want to protect the North Shore.
Not sure if anything came of this?
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