Gabriel Medina is back. Photo: Thiago Diz//World Surf League
The 2023 Championship Tour will kick off with 36 men and 18 women in January’s Billabong Pipe Pro, starting the second full year in which both tours compete on a shared schedule as well as the second year of the WSL’s mid-year cut. The 54 total athletes will be cut down to 36 at the halfway point of the season, which ends with the WSL leaving Australia in April before heading to California for the Surf Ranch Pro over Memorial Day weekend.
Gabriel Medina, Yago Dora, Caroline Marks, and Sally Fitzgibbons were all given WSL wildcards back in May that locked in their spots for the 2023 roster — a decision that somehow stirs a bit of controversy every year. Medina’s decision to sit out the first half of 2022 for personal reasons and then being given a wildcard for the second half drew gripes from some surf fans and critics of the cut. But in just three 2022 appearances, the three-time world champion reached two semifinals before injuring his knee in the elimination round of the Oi Rio Pro. Those results alone would have qualified him for the mid-year cut and punched a ticket for the 2023 CT roster anyway.
On the women’s side, Teresa Bonvalot’s disappointment leaving Haleiwa turned into an opportunity right away. Bonvalot finished 2022 tied with Sophie McCulloch for 5th place in the Challenger Series, then lost the WSL’s deciding tiebreaker. Rather than send the Portuguese surfer back to the Challenger Series for the entire year, she’ll step in as the WSL Replacement. She’ll fill in for any competitor who withdraws from contests between January and April, with her results (and Men’s WSL Replacement, Carlos Munoz) applied toward possible full-time CT qualification.
Here are the full men’s and women’s rosters for 2023:
2023 WSL Men’s CT
Filipe Toledo (BRA)
Italo Ferreira (BRA)
Jack Robinson (AUS)
Ethan Ewing (AUS)
Kanoa Igarashi (JPN)
Miguel Pupo (BRA)
Griffin Colapinto (USA)
Caio Ibelli (BRA)
Connor O’Leary (AUS)
Callum Robson (AUS)
Samuel Pupo (BRA)
John John Florence (HAW)
Matthew McGillivray (ZAF)
Jordy Smith (ZAF)
Kelly Slater (USA)
Barron Mamiya (HAW)
Nat Young (USA)
Jake Marshall (USA)
Kolohe Andino (USA)
Jadson Andre (BRA)
Seth Moniz (HAW)
Jackson Baker (AUS)
Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA)
Ryan Callinan (AUS)
Rio Waida (IND)
Maxime Huscenot (FRA)
Ramzi Boukhiam (MAR)
Michael Rodrigues (BRA)
Ian Gentil (HAW)
Joao Chianca (BRA)
Liam O’Brien (AUS)
Ezekiel Lau (HAW)
WSL Season Wildcards
Gabriel Medina (BRA)
Yago Dora (BRA)
WSL Replacement
Carlos Munoz (CRI)
2023 WSL Women’s CT
Stephanie Gilmore (AUS)
Carissa Moore (HAW)
Johanne Defay (FRA)
Tatiana Weston-Webb (BRA)
Brisa Hennessey (CRI)
Lakey Peterson (USA)
Courtney Conlogue (USA)
Tyler Wright (AUS)
Gabriela Bryan (HAW)
Isabella Nichols (AUS)
Bettylou Sakura Johnson (HAW)
Macy Callaghan (AUS)
Molly Picklum (AUS)
Caitlin Simmers (USA)
Sophie McCulloch (AUS)
WSL Season Wildcards
Caroline Marks (USA)
Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS)
WSL Replacement
Teresa Bonvalot (PRT)
