As we are still in the midst of winter, summer activities probably don’t even cross your mind yet, except in the form of daydreaming and longing. Yes, we know this season tends to be depressing after the holidays, which is why this article aims to invoke lazy summer days, the beach and the coast. How? By reminding you of the upcoming 2024 Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach competition of the world surfing championship.
The spectacle will occur between March 26 and April 5, 2024, which might sound like an eternity, but it is just around the corner. Luckily, February is a short month, so we’ll get to March quickly. The Rip Curl Pro is an enormous local and global event with a gigantic economic impact on Torquay and the Surf Coast Shire.
The WSL’s annual tournament will visit Australia twice, with Bells Beach during Springtime and Margaret River from April 11-21. Rip Curl Pro is the fourth of nine stops on CT and a vital point, the second-last before the mid-season cut, that will see many contenders eliminated and leave 24-man and 12-woman fields.
The tournament has been held every Easter season at Bells Beach, Victoria, since 1962, gaining its professional reputation and sponsorship by Rip Curl in 1973.
Hopefully, you are as excited as our team of seasoned gamblers and betting experts. We have collaborated with sports analysts, whose expertise in covering and predicting the outcomes of World Surfing Championships has helped us immensely. Together, we have explored betting odds and published our expert predictions for the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach competition of the 2024 world surfing championship.
Predictions and Odds
Before we start, let’s summarize the odds with our leading betting expert and surfing enthusiast, Scott Dadson.
According to Scott, the most popular male candidates for 2024 are Filipe Toledo (Brazil), the reigning Australian champion Ethan Ewing and USA’s Griffin Colapinto.
The favoured ladies of this season are Caroline Marks (USA), Carissa Moore (Hawaii), and Tyler Wright (Australia).
“Last year’s champions have made quite an impression on the fans since many believe them to repeat their success,” shares Scott, AuCasinosList leading contributor. Still, some other names top the odds lists, too. Thus, fans are ready to bet someone else scoring the title this year,” he concludes.
Read on for the odds thoroughly prepared by our team and the sports analysts we worked with.
Top Picks for Men
| Surfer | Event Winner Odds | $20 Bet Payout |
| Filipe Toledo | +606 | $141.20 |
| Jack Robinson | +937 | $207.40 |
| Ethan Ewing | +1190 | $258.00 |
| Outsider Picks | ||
| Gabriel Medina | +1251 | $270.20 |
| Griffin Colapinto | +1353 | $290.60 |
Top Picks for Women
| Surfer | Event Winner Odds | $20 Bet Payout |
| Carissa Moore | +361 | $92.20 |
| Caroline Marks | +410 | $102.00 |
| Tyler Wright | +419 | $103.80 |
| Outsider Picks | ||
| Caitlin Simmers | +853 | $190.60 |
| Molly Picklum | +1105 | $241.00 |
Event Details
And now to the nitty-gritty details. The event will take place at the already mentioned Bells Beach in Victoria, Australia, and will represent a crucial mid-point for the WSL Men’s and Women’s Championship Tour.
Bells Beach is a popular surfing spot, so naturally, the daily surfing conditions and the weather will play a pivotal role in the competition. If you find yourself at the gorgeous beach, here’s a small reminder. Even though it is a good surfing spot, it is not recommended for swimming.
Competitors and Past Winners
So, who will we see riding the waves this year? Let’s summarize some of the contenders who might emerge victorious.
Ladies first. We’ll be seeing the eight-time world champion of the WSL World Tour, Stephanie Gilmore, Carissa Kainani Moore, a Hawaiian-American Olympian, the first-ever winner of the Olympic Gold Medal in women’s shortboard surfing back in 2020, and Sally Fitzgibbons, an Australian surfer ranked No.1 in the world for women’s surfing after her win at the Rio Pro.
The gentlemen’s cast is by no means less impressive. We’ll see John Alexander Florence, who won back-to-back world titles at the 2016 World Surf League and 2017 world surfing championship Tour, and the amazing young Brazilian Italo Ferreira, known under the title of the most explosive surfer in the world.
For the sake of recap, last year’s winners were Ethan Ewing, who won over Ryan Callinan and Tyler Wright, who triumphed over her compatriot Molly Picklum.
Event Format and Judging
The event is organized around several spots. Apart from Bells Beach, the contenders will compete at Fiji, a location that has returned to the CT schedule for the first time since 2017 as the final stop of the regular season. The WSL Finals format will also return to Lower Trestles in San Clemente, California, where the top five surfers will get a chance to fight for the World Titles over one day.
The WSL world surfing championship includes the top 34 male and 17 female surfers, who must maintain their elite Championship Tour ranking to keep the spot. However, the event does allow some wildcards, who are chosen among either local surfers or those who were not able to qualify the previous year due to injury. The wild cards are elected by the WSL or the event sponsor.
The wave scoring is done by five judges who use a 10-point scale. The average grade for the surfer is determined after the removal of the highest and the lowest received score. The two best-scoring waves, out of a possible 20, are added together and form a surfer’s heat total. The contender with the highest combination of two-wave heat total wins the heat.
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Economic and Cultural Impact
The event is a major local economy booster that delivers an estimated $8 million economic benefit for the region. The organizers and sponsors are constantly looking for new ways to engage local businesses so that they can receive more exposure. Not to mention the tourist marketing for the region’s natural and cultural attractions.
Environmental and Community Engagement
Since its inception, Rip Curl has been deeply involved with the maintenance and coastal environmental issues. With a solid Environmental Policy that includes the crew members, the event makes sure to inspire and direct a responsible attitude towards natural resources.
Some of their policy examples include encouragement of the development of durable products, eco-friendliness and recyclability. This type of attitude, especially in our ecologically critical times, is commendable and brings even more respect to the event and the people involved in its organization and maintenance.
Looking Ahead: The Road to the WSL Finals
The Rip Curl PRO is a significant segment of the WSL (World Surf League) World Surfing Championship Tour. It involves the top surfer names, both men and women, who show off their skills and compete for the titles.
As we have already mentioned, Bells Beach is just one of the stops in the overall tournament. During the winter months, the locations will include Banzai Pipeline and Sunset Beach in Hawaii, then Peniche in Portugal, and, finally, the two Australian locations. The mid-season will take us to French Polynesia, El Salvador and Brazil.
The summer will culminate with the 2024 Paris Olympic Games between July 26 and August 11 and the Cliudbreak in Fiji between August 20-29. The Finals will occur in San Clemente, California, between September 6-14.
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Final Thoughts
We have an exciting year ahead of us, several worldwide locations and many superb contenders to look forward to. Even though the winter months are not the first association of surfing, as the Spring gets near, everyone’s thrill and anticipation will reach a higher level.
Rip Curl Pro is the second last stop before the mid-season cut, which means the level of excitement will be up the roof by then. It is the point of no return for many excellent surfers. The later stops of the event will put the stakes even higher, particularly as the end draws near. The hot Summer battles will culminate in September, revealing the new World Surfing Championship. Although it is still cold outside and our minds are as far as possible from the coast, it is never too early to start preparing. As you are probably aware, the time will fly.
