The APP World Tour is proud to announce the roll out of its global qualification system for the 2022 season, as it builds up to the season opener of the Tour in Santa Monica, California.
With the 2022 season fast-approaching, the APP World Tour have established a series of regional qualification events in Europe, Asia, South America and North America to ensure that the world’s best talent can compete on the World Championship series for the sport.
Our first qualification event of the year took place last weekend in Ilhabela, Brazil at the Aloha Spirit Festival. Over one hundred paddlers fought it out for the four spots available, but it was Brazil’s David Leão, Arthur Santacreu, Lena Guimarães and Roseli Novloski who were victorious in joining the 2022 APP athlete roster.
The line-up for the full Qualification Series is as follows:
South America Qualifier: Aloha Spirit Festival, Brazil (complete)
European Qualifier: Vendée Gliss, France 14th – 15th May
Asian Qualifier: Busan, Korea 3rd – 5th June
North American Qualifier: USA Surfing Championships, California 14th – 18th Jun
From each event, the top two men and top two women will qualify for the Tour and if they are already pre-qualified, then it will flow down to the next athlete in line. Click here to see the list of pre-qualified athletes for 2022.
The next additions to the list of qualified athletes will be made at Vendée Gliss, the European Qualifier for the 2022 Tour. This will then be followed by the Asian leg in Busan, South Korea ahead of our World Tour stop there in September.
The final qualifier of the year, taking place just weeks before our first event in Santa Monica, is the USA Surfing Championships in Oceanside, California. Already serving as a qualifier for the ISA Worlds, the USA Surfing Championships is a welcome addition to our QS series to determine the best athletes from the North American region.
WILDCARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED
The APP World Tour have awarded six international wildcards to athletes who have put on exceptional performances in global races and who are sure to shake things up at the top. For 2022, these are:
Men: 1. Shuri Araki (JPN) 2. Manuel Rojas Araujo (ESP) 3. Rai Taguchi (JPN)
Women: 1. Esperanza Barreras (ESP) 2. Caroline Kuntzel (DK) 3. Juliette Du Haime (AR)
Whilst this is the process for the professional tour, each event will have a full programme of open, competitive and age group races as well as inclusive activities as part of our City Paddle Festival approach.
Whilst this is the process for the professional tour, each event will have a full programme of open races and inclusive activities as part of our City Paddle Festival approach.
For all the information on qualification for surf and race, click here.
Registration for our first event in US Open of SUP at Santa Monica Pier will be opening next week so stay tuned at www.appworldtour.com and @appworldtour.