JEFFREYS BAY, Eastern Cape, South Africa (Tuesday, July 18, 2023) - Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA) has provisionally qualified through the World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour (CT) to represent Italy at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
Fioravanti's recent 9th-place finish at the Corona Open J-Bay ensures he will be one of the 18 surfers to provisionally qualify through the WSL CT. The 25-year-old, currently ranked 9th in the world, will represent his country in the Olympics for a second time. He competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as an injury replacement for Jordy Smith (RSA).
"Being an Olympic athlete is a dream come true," Fioravanti reacted. "It's a dream to have another chance to represent my country at the next Olympics and hopefully I can bring a medal home. The Italian Federation has been supporting me a lot, they really believe in this project. We got Adriano de Souza as my coach and it's been a huge help for me and it's really made me learn a lot about myself to become a better competitor. Going to the next Olympics is not just my dream, I'm also representing a whole country, a whole nation that supports me and I hope I can make them proud."
Fioravanti made his way onto the world stage at a young age. His climb through the tiers of professional surfing had moments of adversity, including a 2015 fall that resulted in a broken back. Fioravanti returned by claiming an impressive event win over Kelly Slater (USA) at the 2016 Margaret River Pro. He recently fell off Tour in 2022, but was able to fight his way back through the Challenger Series and qualify for the 2023 CT. Fioravanti kicked off the 2023 season with a second-place finish at the Billabong Pro Pipeline in Oahu, Hawaii.
Surfing will return to the Olympic Games after making its 2020 Olympic debut in Tokyo. The 2024 Olympics will be held on the French Polynesian island of Tahiti at Teahupo'o, the iconic wave known for massive barrels, heavy drops, and a shallow reef. This will be familiar to the WSL surfers as it is the featured stop on the WSL CT and the next stop on the 2023 CT season.
"I think to have Teahupo'o as the surfing venue is crazy, it's going to blow everyone's minds," Fioravanti said. "The wave is one of the best in the world and if we get it as good as it gets, it's going to be absurd."
The WSL CT, the highest level of competitive surfing that crowns the World Champions, is surfing's tier-one qualifier for the 2024 Olympic Games. WSL will provisionally qualify the first ten men and eight women for Paris 2024. Learn more about Surfing's Olympic Qualification process.
Watch Fioravanti compete at the upcoming Shiseido Tahiti Pro from August 11 - 20, 2023. Once called on, the competition will be broadcast LIVE on WorldSurfLeague.com, the WSL's YouTube channel, and the free WSL app. Check out more ways to watch from the WSL's broadcast partners.
For more information, please visit WorldSurfLeague.com.