The 2024 Challenger Series kicks off April 27 and will wrap up late October in Brazil.
The WSL Challenger Series will begin its third campaign in April, 2024, a week after the Championship Tour’s mid-year cut wraps up at the Western Australia Margaret River Pro. Since it was first introduced in the 2021 competitive season, the CS has qualified a total of 48 surfers with the top 10 men and top five women respectively earning their spots on the league’s Dream Tour each season.
The league announced the schedule for its 2024 campaign and unlike the Championship Tour, which often sees at least one location changed from year to year, the new Challenger Series schedule follows the same outline as the 2023 version. Competitors will have two contests in Australia to kick things off, a July stop in South Africa, off to California for the US Open of Surfing, then back-to-back contests in Portugal and then Brazil to decide who will qualify.
“We’re three years into the Challenger Series format, and it feels really good to see this Series build and solidify its place in the competition pathway,” said Jessi Miley-Dyer, WSL Chief of Sport. “Forty-eight surfers have earned their place in the Championship Tour via their performances in the Challenger Series since 2021 and the 2024 season will see 15 more join them.”
The roster of competitors, of course, won’t be fully formed until the completion of the CT’s mid-year cut. Twelve men and seven women from that tour will be relegated to the 2024 Challenger Series immediately following the contest at Margaret River. Another 10 men and five women from last year’s Challenger Series will remain on that circuit attempting to qualify, as well as three men and two women who did not re-qualify for either tour. Meanwhile, the WQS will funnel 49 men and 30 women who qualified via its seven regions across the globe. Finally, the 2023 World Junior Champions will both be given spots on the Challenger Series along with five men and three women’s wildcards per each event.
-Snapper Rocks, Gold Coast (Queensland, Australia): April 27 – May 4, 2024
-North Narrabeen, Sydney (New South Wales, Australia): May 9 – 16, 2024
-Ballito (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa): July 1 – 8, 2024
-Huntington Beach (California, USA): August 3 – 11 2024
-Ericeira (Portugal): September 29 – October 6, 2024
-Saquarema (Brazil): October 12 – 20, 2024
