Griffin Colapinto is the first surfer, and second athlete overall, to qualify for the 2024 U.S. Olympic team.
Colapinto, a 24-year-old from California, mathematically clinched an Olympic spot because he is guaranteed to finish as one of the top two Americans in this season’s World Surf League standings.
He entered the current competition — the Corona Open in Jeffreys Bay, South Africa — ranked second in the world behind Brazilian Filipe Toledo.
Four years ago, Colapinto ranked fifth among American men in qualifying for surfing’s Olympic debut in Tokyo, missing the two-man team.
He improved to second among Americans two years ago (and sixth in the world), then last year became the top American man and won his first two WSL contest titles.
Colapinto will likely be joined on the U.S. men’s surfing team for the 2024 Paris Games by John John Florence, who tied for ninth in Tokyo.
The U.S. gets a third Olympic men’s spot if it wins next year’s World Surfing Games team event. If that happens, 51-year-old Kelly Slater could get onto the team.
The possible third spot will be filled by a semifinalist at the next World Surf League contest in Tahiti — site of the 2024 Olympic surfing competition — or, if no American not already qualified gets that far, the third-best American in this season’s final standings.
Slater will not finish among the top three Americans in the season standings, so he must reach the Tahiti semifinals next month to keep Olympic hopes alive.
The U.S. women are already guaranteed three Olympic spots. Tokyo gold medalist Carissa Moore, ranked No. 1 in the world this season, has nearly wrapped up one of them. Caroline Marks, also a Tokyo Olympian, and Caity Simmers, 17, are in strong positions, too.
Last weekend, Katie Grimes became the first American to qualify for the 2024 Olympics via a world championships medal in open-water swimming.
The U.S. Olympic team will be more than 500 athletes once qualifying in all sports is finished and all the teams have been named a year from now.