Hometown Hero Matthew McGillivray To Compete At Corona Open J-Bay

McGillivray Requalifies for 2023 Championship Tour 

WSL Season WIldcards Awarded To Caroline Marks, Sally Fitzgibbons 

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JEFFREYS BAY, South Africa (Monday, May 16, 2022) – The Corona Open J-Bay, the ninth stop on the World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour (CT), will see hometown hero Matthew McGillivray (ZAF) compete against the world’s best surfers at Supertubes, Jeffreys Bay from 12-21 July 2022.

McGillivray requalified for the 2023 Championship Tour after his impressive performance at the Margaret River Pro in Western Australia. It was the final stop before the Mid-season Cut which saw the men’s field reduced to 22 and McGillivray nabbed the last available spot when he defeated Samuel Pupo (BRA) in the Quarterfinals. Veteran competitor Owne Wright (AUS) missed the cut-off as a result and will focus his attention on the Challenger Series (CS) to requalify for the World Tour.

“It’s been really stressful coming into Margaret River. I thought I was going to have a better start to the year at these events. I really had to to put my head down and work hard, I was struggling to get the results. Bells Beach was a shocker for me, so I tried to not think too much about it and take my mind off the results and focus on the process.Everything came together and I can’t believe I made the cut and I’m going to J-Bay!” said McGillivray.

Joining McGillivray, two-time event winner Jordy Smith (ZAF) also made the cut and will be one of the favourites to win at Jeffreys Bay.

In the Women’s draw, Caroline Marks (USA) has been awarded the 2022 WSL season wildcard, which gives her entry into CT events following the Mid-season Cut and entry into the first half of the 2023 CT season. The men’s 2022 WSL season wildcard was awarded to Gabriel Medina (BRA). Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) and Yago Dora (BRA) have been awarded the 2023 WSL season wildcards, which give entry to all competitions in the first half of the 2023 CT season.

As the WSL season wildcard for the remaining CT competitions following the cut, Marks’ points will be eligible for the WSL Final 5 rankings, where the Top 5 surfers on the men’s and women’s CT will compete in the Rip Curl WSL Finals to compete for the 2022 World Title. The same rules will apply to Medina’s competition eligibility as the men’s 2022 WSL season wildcard.

As the 2023 WSL season wildcards, Fitzgibbons and Dora will also be the first replacements for the remaining events in the 2022 CT season. Points earned by Fitzgibbons and Dora as the replacements for any CT events in 2022 will count as rankings’ points.

Watch LIVE

Watch the Corona Open J-Bay LIVE on WorldSurfLeague.com  from 12 – 21 July 2022.

For more information, visit WorldSurfLeague.com

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About the World Surf League (WSL)

Established in 1976, the World Surf League (WSL) is the home of the world’s best surfing.

A global sports, media and entertainment company, the WSL oversees international tours and competitions, a studios division creating over 500+ hours of live and on-demand content, and via affiliate WaveCo, the home of the world’s largest high performance, human-made wave. Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, the WSL has regional offices in North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, and EMEA.

The WSL annually crowns the men’s and women’s surfing World Champions. The global Tours and Competition division oversees and operates more than 180 global contests each year across the Championship Tour, the development tiers, including the Challenger, Qualifying and Junior Series, as well as longboard and big wave properties.

Launched in 2019, WSL Studios is an independent producer of unscripted television projects, including documentaries and series, which provide unprecedented access to athletes, events, and locations around the world. WSL events and content are distributed on linear television in over 743M+ homes worldwide and across digital and social media platforms around the world, including WorldSurfLeague.com.

WaveCo includes the Surf Ranch Lemoore facility and the utilizing and licensing of the Kelly Slater Wave System.

The WSL is dedicated to changing the world through the inspirational power of surfing by creating authentic events, experiences, and storytelling to inspire a growing, global community to live with purpose, originality, and stoke.

For more information, please visit WorldSurfLeague.com.