Robert Kelly Slater is an American professional surfer, best known for being crowned World Surf League champion a record 11 times. Slater is widely regarded as the greatest professional surfer of all time, and holds 56 Championship Tour victories. Slater is also the oldest surfer still active on the World Surf League, winning his 8th Billabong Pipeline Masters title at age 49.
Vincent Sennen "Sunny" Garcia is an American professional surfer. He grew up in Waianae, Hawaii and, after leaving school, debuted on the 1986 Gotcha Pro at Sandy Beach, Oahu, beating the 1984 champ Tom Carroll.
The World Surf League (WSL) is the governing body for professional surfers and is dedicated to showcasing the world's best talent in a variety of progressive formats. The World Surf League was originally known as the International Professional Surfing founded by Fred Hemmings and Randy Rarick in 1976. IPS created the first world circuit of pro surfing events. In 1983 the Association of Surfing Pros took over management of the world circuit. In 2013, the ASP was acquired by ZoSea, backed by Paul Speaker, Terry Hardy, and Dirk Ziff. At the start of the 2015 season, the ASP changed its name to the World Surf League. Sophie Goldschmidt was appointed as WSL CEO on 19 July 2017. Paul Speaker had stepped down as CEO on 11 January 2017, and Dirk Ziff acted as the interim WSL CEO until Goldschmidt's appointment.
Marco Jay Luciano "Mark" Occhilupo is an Australian surfer and winner of the 1999 ASP World title.
Michael Eugene Fanning is an Australian professional surfer who was crowned champion of the Association of Surfing Professionals/World Surf League (ASP/WSL)'s World Tour in 2007, 2009 and 2013. In 2015, he survived a shark attack by what is suspected to be a great white shark during the J-Bay Open finals in Jeffreys Bay.
John "John John" Alexander Florence is an American professional surfer. He is known as "one of the most dominant pipe surfers of his era" and won back-to-back world titles on the 2016 World Surf League and 2017 World Surf League Men's Championship Tour. He is the first Hawaii-born surfer to win back-to-back world titles since the late Andy Irons. In 2019, Florence qualified to represent the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics in surfing. From 2018 he has been struggling with some knee injuries.
Joel Parkinson is an Australian surfer who used to compete on the WSL. After twelve years competing at the elite level on the ASP World Championship Tour, a stretch that saw him win eleven elite ASP World Title Events, plus nine additional ASP tour events, and achieve runner-up second place to the ASP World Title four times, Parkinson won the ASP World Championship Tour Surfing Title on 14 December 2012 in Hawaii at the Banzai Pipeline during the ASP World Tours' final event for 2012–the Billabong Pipeline Masters. Parkinson hung on in a back and forth battle with eleven-time ASP World Title holder, Kelly Slater, to get his first World Title, as well as go on to win the Pipeline Masters, only after Slater lost his semi-final heat to Josh Kerr, of Queensland, Australia. Parkinson beat Kerr in the finals of the event, which was his seventh top-five placing for the year, and his first event title win for 2012. Parkinson left the World Tour and left a legacy of a beautiful and powerful surfing.
Carissa Kainani Moore is a Hawaiian American Olympian, world champion surfer and activist. She was the first-ever winner of the Olympic Gold Medal in women's short board surfing in 2020. She was also the 2011, 2013, 2015, 2019 and 2021 World Surf League WSL Women's World Tour Champion. Moore is the first surfer in history to win a WSL world title and the Olympic title in the same year.
Sally Fitzgibbons is an Australian professional surfer on the Association of Surfing Professionals World Tour (2009–2013). In June 2019, she was ranked No. 1 in the world for women's surfing after winning the Rio Pro.
Australia is renowned as one of the world's premier surfing destinations. Surfing underpins an important part of the Australian coastal fabric. It forms part of a lifestyle in which millions participate and which millions more have an interest. Australian surfboard-makers have driven innovation in surfboard design and production since the mid-1960s. The country has launched corporate giants such as Billabong, Rip Curl and Quiksilver.
Owen Wright is an Australian professional surfer on the World Surf League Men's Championship Tour. His sister, Tyler Wright, is also a competitor on the World Surf League Championship Tour.
Gabriel Medina Pinto Ferreira is a Brazilian professional surfer who won the 2014, 2018 and 2021 WSL World Championships. With 18 WSL Championship Tour (CT) event wins and 30 Final appearances under his belt, Medina is one of the most experienced surfers when it comes to producing the best surfing under pressure. Medina is 2nd only to Kelly Slater for the most World Titles among surfers currently on the men's CT.
Nikki van Dijk is an Australian professional surfer. She has been a touring competitor in the World Surf League, the top flight of international professional surfing.
Filipe Toledo is a Brazilian professional surfer who has competed on the World Surf League Men's World Tour since 2013. He’s a second-generation pro who grew up outside of Ubatuba, Brasil on the northeastern coast of the state of São Paulo. His father, and long-time coach, Ricardo, was a two-time national champion. In 2014, as his career took flight, Filipe convinced his entire family to move to San Clemente, California.
Caroline Marks is an American professional surfer. She is a multiple national champion and the youngest female to compete in a World Surf League event. She is the youngest surfer to qualify for the women’s Championship Tour.
The 2019 World Surf League was the competition series hosted by the World Surf League, the global championship body for competitive surfing. The 2019 World Surf League consisted of the Championship Tour, the Qualifying Series, Big Wave Tour, Longboard Tour, Junior Tour, and other specialty tours and events such as the Vans Triple Crown.
The So Sri Lanka Pro 2019 was a surfing competition which was held as a part of the World Surfing League Qualifying Series 3000. This was the second edition of the Sri Lanka Pro League and it was also the first such event to be conducted since 2011 after 8 years. It was held from 25 September to 29 September in Arugam Bay coinciding the World Tourism Day on 27 September. The event featured 124 competitors from 24 nations including the retired former world champion Mark Occhilupo. The event was titled as So Sri Lanka which is also used as a slogan to promote tourism industry in Sri Lanka by the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau from 2018. Sri Lankan Airlines is the official airline partner for the series.
Surfing in Sri Lanka is one of the popular sports in Sri Lanka among foreign tourists despite not being popular among the Sri Lankan locals. Surfing in Sri Lanka dates back to early 1960s. The country has many beaches for surfing, especially in the southern and eastern regions. Places such as Arugam Bay, Hikkaduwa, Weligama, Mirissa and Unawatuna are popular surf spots in Sri Lanka and among tourists. The Tourism in Sri Lanka is also very closely related to the sport of surfing and the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau considers the sport of surfing as one of the measures of attracting tourists.
Kanoa Igarashi is a Japanese American surfer who has competed professionally worldwide since 2012. In 2016, he was the youngest rookie on the World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour (CT), and had collected more Round One wins than any other surfer, finished 2nd place at the Pipeline event, and 20th place overall that year. His greatest career performance was in the 2022 WSL CT where he finished top 5 and got to compete on the final event of the year held in Trestles California.
Billy Stairmand is a New Zealand surfer who competed in the men's shortboard event at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Sri Lanka 