Medina’s lack of vaccination last season did nothing to stop him from ripping his way to the win at the Rottnest Search event in Western Australia. Photo: Matt Dunbar//World Surf League
While the World Surf League currently has not announced a vaccine mandate for any parts of its organization, it doesn’t take in-depth knowledge of calculus to realize things might get tricky for unvaccinated athletes hoping to compete on the WSL tour this coming year. Australia has announced strict vaccine mandates for anyone entering the country – no number of PCR tests x-amount of hours before or after the flight will do. And in 2022, the WSL has two scheduled Championship Tour events in Australia, the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach and the Margaret River Pro. So any athlete hoping to compete in those will need to be vaccinated.
“The WSL has informed its surfers that, even though the league is not mandating vaccinations for participating athletes, we do encourage everyone who is able, to get vaccinated,” a WSL spokesperson said. “[We] have advised our surfers that they may face significant challenges as they travel around the world and may be prohibited from entering certain countries if they are not fully vaccinated.”
“The Championship Tour season ended in September,” the spokesperson continued. “Prior to the end of the season, a significant portion of the athletes on the CT were fully vaccinated… We will be working closely with all of the athletes who qualify for the 2022 CT to confirm vaccination status and provide support. The WSL is working hard on behalf of our athletes so they can travel safely and compete on our tour.”
Kelly Slater, on the set of The Ultimate Surfer. Photo: WSL
While there isn’t a full list of unvaccinated CT surfers floating around, at least two of the WSL’s top athletes have been publicly questioned about the vaccine. Kelly Slater – who, to our knowledge, hasn’t stated outright that he isn’t vaccinated, by the way – recently came under fire for his stance on vaccines which he made public on Instagram. “If I know the risks (informed consent) and I judge the choice to be one that benefits/hurts me based on stats and info and my own ability (health), I can choose accordingly,” he said in response to veteran Iron Man Matt Poole’s analogy of not taking the vaccine being similar to jumping into a riptide. Kelly has re-qualified for the 2022 Championship Tour after spending most of the 2021 season “injured,” and as such did not travel to Australia when the tour did this year.
Gabriel Medina has been considering taking a gap year in 2022. Could the vaccine have anything to do with it? Photo: WSL//Tony Heff
He’s not the only surfer whose vaccination status has come under question. Reigning World Champion Gabriel Medina found himself in a sticky situation in August when he said he wouldn’t compete in Tahiti because he wasn’t vaccinated on a Twitch feed, which would have left the number-one ranking up for grabs heading into Teahupo’o. The event was cancelled due to a state of emergency announced in Tahiti, making it a moot point. “Vaccine saves lives, guys,” he said in response to the Twitch admission after. “It was a mistake that I didn’t fit immunization into my training schedule for this year’s challenges.” If he expects to defend his title in 2022, it looks as though the vaccine will have to be part of his regimen. Medina has expressed the possibility of taking a year off this coming season.
The world has changed week-to-week the past couple of years. Who knows where we’ll be in five months? Stay tuned.
