Barbados and the Caribbean’s top surfer on the World Surf League (WSL) Challenger Series (CS) Tour, Josh Burke finished 34th overall with 7985 points after the CS tour commenced in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil this week.
Burke ended his CS Tour as he competed at the Corona Saquarema Pro, presented by Banco do Brasil. With 80 men vying for seven spots on the 2025 Championship Tour, Barbados’ champion made it into the second day of competition, but missed out on advancing to the Round of 32 by one spot, losing to Nacho Gundesen.
The six-event CS tour is the Formula 2 tour of surfing, consisting of 115 of the best surfers in the world, of which only 80 are eligible per event. Of that number, 10 qualify from each of the seven WSL regions around the world, except North America, which takes the top seven after competing through a rigorous Qualifying Series (QS) regional tour, plus 10 surfers that didn’t re-qualify back onto the WCT.
Burke’s overall result was mainly thanks to his outstanding third-place finish in Snapper Rocks Gold Coast Australia. Burke had a breakthrough event at the Bonsoy Gold Coast Pro presented by GWM in May, recording multiple excellent scoring rides in waves of consequence, and eliminating several WCT surfers along the way to a semifinal finish, the best result of his surfing career to date.
In addition, the 27-year-old was the sixth-highest overall finisher from the 16 North American region athletes that competed on the 2024 CS tour.
“I first and foremost wish to thank my sponsors,Iconiq, Old Brigand, Latacrete, CI Surfboards for the amazing boards, Reef, Billabong, Dakine Surf, and Futures Fins. No matter how much talent and desire you may have, it’s not possible without positive support, financial or otherwise,” he said.
“I had an amazing year, although I didn’t meet my goal of qualifying on to the World Championship Tour (WCT) I am happy with my overall performance,” he continued. “The level on the CS tour is through the roof. It’s a fine line between advancing through a heat or not, it’s splitting hairs.”
The next stop for Burke is the WSL 3000 QS La Marginal Pro in Arecibo Puerto Rico from the end of this month. That will be the first WSL event being held on the US territory island in 14 years.
Burke is seeded eighth going into the event, and he will be joined by fellow Barbados surfers Jacob Burke, Ocean Gittens, and Lewis St John.
(PR/TF)
