Photo: WSL
Ian Gouveia’s chances of qualifying for the 2025 Championship Tour were already looking good before coming to Huntington Beach for the US Open of Surfing. On Friday, the Brazilian became the first to officially qualify for next year’s tour by way of the 2024 Challenger Series.
Gouveia had solid results to kick off the season on the Gold Coast and in Sydney making back-to-back quarterfinals and losing to each of the Pupo brothers in both events. A win in South Africa at last month’s Ballito Pro, however, all but solidified his return to the Championship Tour. With a pass through the opening round of 80, Gouveia’s task in Huntington Beach this week was simply to advance through his first two heats and into the round of 16. He’s now set to return to the CT six years after last falling off.
After his round of 32 heat, Gouveia admitted this was his “do or die” year — one last swing at re-qualifying or making a career change.
“I wasn’t feeling frustrated with my career. I was just like ‘Maybe it’s time to do another thing and enjoy family, enjoy freesurfing,'” he said. Having his spot on the Challenger Series locked up, he said he’d give it a go and the hot start at Snapper Rocks never slowed down.
Gouveia joked that he “became an athlete” after falling off the tour in 2018. He told the WSL in his post-heat interview that his two years on the CT back in 2017 and 2018 were filled with a lot of traveling, enjoying life, and eating chocolate.
View this post on Instagram
