SANTA MONICA, CA/USA (Wednesday, September 1, 2021): The World Surf League (WSL) today announces the cancellation of the WSL Junior Championships, scheduled for December 4 - 10 at Jinzun Harbour, Taitung, Taiwan, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Points from this season's regional Pro Junior events will be rolled over to next season's regional rankings, which will determine who qualifies for the 2022 WSL Junior Championships.
"The safety of our Junior athletes is of the utmost importance and we have decided to cancel the 2021 edition of the World Junior Championships due to COVID and out of an abundance of caution," said SVP of Tours and Head of Competition, Jessi Miley-Dyer. We want to sincerely thank our partners in Taitung, Taiwan for their ongoing support of the event and we look forward to working together in the future."
Along with the cancellation, the WSL Tours and Competition office is increasing the age limit for the Pro Junior tour to 20-and-under from the current age of 18-and-under.
"This change will allow young surfers to continue competing at the Junior level until they're ready to move onto the Regional Qualifying Series," continued Miley-Dyer. "The new age limit also gives surfers who missed out on the World Junior Champions this year, and would have otherwise aged out of the Junior Tour, another opportunity to qualify for the World Junior Championships in 2022."