The world’s best surfers will gather in Punta Rocas, Peru, to compete in the 2026 ISA World Surfing Games (WSG), held November 6-15, 2026.

November 3rd, 2026. Here are ten things you should know about the competition:

1. LA28 Olympic Games Slots Are on the Line

The 2026 WSG is the first ISA event to award places for the LA28 Olympic Games. The highest-ranked men’s team and the highest-ranked women’s team will each earn one slot for their nation. With a maximum of two surfers per gender per nation able to individually qualify for LA28, these team slots are the only platform for a nation to be able to send a third surfer within a gender. The same team slots are on offer again at the 2027 WSG.

2. Olympic Medalists and World Champions Head to Punta Rocas

This year’s WSG features 30 Olympians, including six Olympic Medalists: Tokyo 2020 Gold Medalists Italo Ferreira (BRA) and Carissa Moore (USA), Paris 2024 Gold Medalist Kauli Vaast (FRA), Paris 2024 Silver Medalist Jack Robinson (AUS), Tokyo 2020 Silver Medalist Kanoa Igarashi (JPN), and Paris 2024 Bronze Medalist Johanne Defay (FRA). Igarashi arrives in Peru as the first surfer to provisionally secure a third Olympic berth after his win in the 2026 Asian Games.

3. Defending Champions Return

Reigning Team World Champion Australia is back to defend its title with Ethan Ewing, George Pittar, Jack Robinson, Tyler Wright, Stephanie Gilmore, and Leihani Zoric. Meanwhile, Janire González Etxabarri (ESP) returns to defend her 2025 Gold Medal as one of four past WSG Gold Medalists in the field, alongside Kanoa Igarashi(JPN), Italo Ferreira (BRA), and Jhony Corzo (MEX).

4. Punta Rocas and the Road to Lima 2027

Peru will host the World Surfing Games for the third time, following Punta Hermosa in 2010 and Punta Rocas in 2014, and won Team Gold on home soil both times. Its four WSG Team Gold Medals (2010, 2014, 2016, 2023) are second only to Australia’s six since 1996. Peru also hosted the 2011 and 2025 ISA World Junior Surfing Championships and debuted two of the ISA’s World Championships, hosting the first standalone World Longboard Championship in 2013 and the first two World SUP and Paddleboard Championships in 2012 and 2013.

Both longboard and SUP will join shortboard on the program when Punta Rocas hosts surfing at the Lima 2027 Pan American Games next year. The break first hosted the Pan Am Games at Lima 2019, surfing’s debut on the program, where Lucca Mesinas and Daniella Rosas won Gold for Peru and the 2026 WSG will work as a test event for the 2027 Panam Games.

Both are back in the host team, which includes five Olympians among its six surfers: Mesinas, Rosas, Paris 2024 fourth-place finisher Alonso Correa, Miguel Tudela and Sol Aguirre. Catalina Zariquiey, who won U/16 Silver at the 2025 ISA World Junior Surfing Championship at Punta Rocas, completes the team.

5. Gender Equality

In 2026, the WSG will feature 109 women competing, 46% of the total field. Since 2017, the ISA has offered equal competition slots for men and women across its World Championship Series, and every year those slots continue to be filled more evenly.

6. Romania and Uzbekistan Make Their WSG Debut

239 athletes from 53 nations will be present in Peru, with two nations making their WSG debut, Romania and Uzbekistan. It is the first-ever ISA appearance for Uzbekistan.

7. Where to Watch

The live webcast will be streamed on www.isasurf.org from November 6-15. Visit our website for results, team rosters, photos, videos, and news pertaining to the competition.

8. The ISA World Surfing Games: A Historic Event

Originally named the International Surfing Federation, the organization crowned the very first Surfing World Champions in Manly Beach, Australia in 1964. The ISA has been crowning champions ever since, with competitions being held across multiple disciplines on all five continents of the globe.

Continuing the legacy of those first World Championships, the World Surfing Games is the ISA’s flagship open championship event. The very first Olympic qualifying events for surfing were hosted by the ISA in 2019 in Miyazaki, Japan and in 2021 in Surf City El Salvador.

Past WSG Champions include Olympic Gold Medalist Italo Ferreira (BRA), Olympic Silver Medalists Tatiana Weston-Webb (BRA) and Kanoa Igarashi (JPN), Olympic Bronze Medalist Gabriel Medina (BRA), Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS), Jeremy Flores(FRA), Chelsea Hedges (AUS), Jordy Smith (RSA), Courtney Conlogue(USA), and Sofía Mulánovich (PER).

9. Schedule

November 6: Opening Ceremony

November 7-14: Competition Days, Punta Rocas and El Bosque

November 15: Finals Day, Closing Ceremony

10. Social Media

The ISA will be posting live updates, photos and videos from the competition on social media.

Carlos Briceño con información de Isa Surfing