Originally named the International Surfing Federation World Championships, the World Surfing Games (WSG) crowned the first Surfing World Champions in Manly Beach, Australia in 1964. The WSG has been crowning champions ever since, with competitions being held on all five continents of the globe.
The WSG is an Olympic-style, team event that features three men and three women maximum on each National Team. Surfers compete individually, earning points towards their team based on how far they advance in the event. The team with the most collective points is crowned the Team World Champion.
The WSG awards Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Copper medals for each individual division, for the top finishing teams, and for the ISA tag-team relay event, the Aloha Cup.
2019 will mark a historic edition for the event as the first-ever to qualify surfers directly for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.