Roxy Pro axed as part of World Surf League tour shake-up
Snapper Rocks had hosted the World Surf League championship tour season-opener for more than 20 years but has now been dumped and will instead become a qualifier venue.
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The Gold Coast has officially been dumped as a world surfing championship tour venue and has instead been relegated to a qualifying event host.
Snapper Rocks on the southern Glitter Strip had hosted the World Surf League championship tour season-opener, the men’s Quiksilkver and women’s Roxy Pro, for more than 20 years.
But the Coast this year lost the event - ironically renamed the Corona Open - to North Narrabeen in Sydney after a wrangle between the WSL and Palaszczuk Government over funding and coronavirus quarantine arrangements.
The WSL has announced that Snapper Rocks will return as a host venue next year but it will be a new Challenger Series event for surfers trying to qualify for the elite championship tour.
The event has been moved from its traditional February timeslot to May, with the Coast securing the hosting rights from 2022 to 2024.
It will be one of eight Challenger Series events held in eight countries, with Sydney’s Manly Beach also hosting a round.
“We’re genuinely excited to be hosting the opening event of the 2022 Challenger Series here on the Gold Coast, Australia,” WSL Asia Pacific boss Andrew Stark said. “The eight stops on the Challenger Series are all world-class waves and giving our CS competitors the opportunity to launch their season at one of the best point breaks in the world is something we’re really proud of.”
“We can’t wait to continue the tradition of running blockbuster international professional surfing events here on the Gold Coast.”
Coast Mayor Tom Tate hailed the return of pro surfing to the Glitter Strip as ‘fantastic news’.
Radical changes to the WSL tour have been made for 2022 with a mid-season cut of the bottom-ranked 12 men and six women, who will have to compete in the Challenger Series to try to requalify.
The 10-event championship tour will start at Hawaii’s Banzai Pipeline and finish at Teahupoo in Tahiti.
Australia will host two events, at Bells Beach and Margaret River, in April.
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