Carissa Moore and Caroline Marks, the world’s top two female surfers, have been chosen for the first U.S. Olympic women’s surfing team. The U.S. has the top three female surfers in the World Surf League, but a max of two surfers per gender, per nation can compete at the Tokyo Games. Sorry, Lakey Peterson.
Moore, a three-time world champion, and Marks, a 17-year-old phenom, will be gold-medal contenders for sure during surfing’s Olympic debut next year.
On the otherside, Kolohe Andino of San Clemente, Calif., has already grabbed one of the U.S. men’s spots. The second spot will be determined after the Billabong Pipe Masters event, happening right now.
In the end, it will likely be either 11-time world champion G.O.A.T. Kelly Slater or 2016 / 2017 world champion John John Florence, in the midst of a comeback from knee surgery.
