LA JOLLA–The 2020 AmpSurf ISA World Para Surfing Championship is set to take to La Jolla Shores March 11 to 15.
Approximately 133 athletes from 22 countries are set to compete in the World Championship, surpassing the record of 120 that was set in 2018. The athlete participation has nearly doubled since the inaugural edition in 2015.
In addition to the record number of athletes, 2020 will also see women compete in record numbers.
The 41 women pursuing Gold Medals break the record of 37 set in 2018, and continues a year over year trend of increased women’s participation in the event.
As the discipline of Para Surfing continues to evolve, the ISA has updated the classification divisions in which the athletes compete in order to create the most level playing field.
Athletes will be grouped into one of 8 classifications depending on their particular physical conditions. Each classification will crown men and women World Champions. (Women Para Surf Stand 3 will not run due to no classified participants).
With surfing set to make its Olympic debut in Tokyo 2020, the ISA believes that high performance and youthful values of Para Surfing also merit inclusion on the world’s greatest Para sporting stage.
The ISA has lobbied for the sport’s inclusion in the Paralympics and most recently applied for inclusion in the Santiago 2023 Para Pan Am Games.
In 2020, AmpSurf will join the WPSC as the Title Partner for the first time, bringing their expertise in providing Adaptive Surfing therapy programs to veterans, adults, and children.
In 2018, Team USA took the overall Team Gold Medal for the first time in the event’s history, breaking a two-year Gold Medal run from Team Brazil.
The defending individual Gold Medalists competing in 2020 are the following: Bruno Hansen (DEN), Ann Yoshida (HAW), Samantha Bloom (AUS), Melisa Reid (ENG), Matthew Formston (AUS), Alana Nichols (USA), Victoria Feige (CAN), Henrique Saraiva (BRA), Freddy Marimon (COL), and Antony Smyth (RSA).
Denmark’s Hansen is the only competitor to earn a Gold Medal (4) in each edition of the event.
The ISA will be posting live updates, photos and videos from the competition on social media. Follow along on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube and don’t forget use the official hashtags #ISAworlds and #InspiredSurfers.
The AmpSurf ISA Adaptive Surf Clinic will take place March 10 from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. at La Jolla Shores.
The event’s schedule is listed at www.isasurf.org.
