Jen See: “I never expected that pro surfing would try to be tennis and Red Bull at the same time!”

What kind of sport has two entirely different ways to become a world champion? Surfing, you are such a weirdo.

The ISA world championship event for women is over! Did you even know it had started? I’m going to go ahead and answer for you: you did not.

No shame.

This is a loving, joyful community of surf people who would never shame you. At least, not today. There is always tomorrow.

Scrolling through the round one heat sheets offered a dizzying array of unfamiliar names. I did learn that Claire Bevilacqua, who I had previously thought to be Australian, is now Italian. The Olympics are wondrous in their transformative powers.

Each participating country could send three women to the event. Steph Gilmore, Sally Fitzgibbons, and Nikki van Dijk represented Australia, while Carissa Moore, Courtney Conlogue, and Caroline Marks surfed for the U.S., a sentence that still stutters a bit on the tongue, but we shall overcome.

Lakey Peterson is currently ranked ahead of both Marks and Conlogue, but did not go to Japan. According to the ‘gram, she’s already in Lemoore.

There were a lot of heats.

I’m not going to tell you all about them, because there are far too many. One thing we learned: There are no losers’ rounds in Olympic Surfing. That is far, far too plebeian for such a grand occasion. No, my friends, from now on, the elimination rounds will be known as repechage! Say it together: Repechage! The ISA World Championship event featured ten repechage rounds. I feel smarter already.

The winner. You will want to know about the winner. Sofia Mulánovich won gold ahead of Silvana Lima, Bianca Buitendag, and Carissa Moore.

If you’re wondering what kind of medal you win if you finish fourth like Carissa Moore, it’s copper. Gold, silver, bronze, copper. Now you know. I have seen Olympic medals of all colors, but never a copper medal, so I now have a new ambition.

Mulánovich previously won an ISA world title in 2004 in Ecuador. She is also the 2004 ASP world champion, a title she secured after winning three of the six tour stops that year. Mulánovich remains the only surfer from Peru to win a CT world title, an accomplishment that transformed her into something of a rock star in her home country.

If you’re wondering what kind of medal you win if you finish fourth like Carissa Moore, it’s copper. Gold, silver, bronze, copper. Now you know. I have seen Olympic medals of all colors, but never a copper medal, so I now have a new ambition.

If you’re like Chas, you are probably thinking fuckyeah, Mulánovich is going to the Olympics. She won the ISA world title! Of course, she’s going.

Not. So. Fast.

Mulánovich must win the 2020 ISA world championship in order to qualify for the Olympics. Thanks to the Pan-American Games, Peru has already qualified Daniela Rossi for Tokyo 2020. As a side note and because surfing is a small world, Mulánovich mentored Rossi during her early career.

tl;dr: Winning the Pan-Am Games qualifies you for the Olympics, winning the 2019 ISA world title does not.

Meanwhile, in more Olympic qualifying, four women provisionally punched their tickets to Tokyo this week. If you’re keeping score at home, this is the continental qualifying route. The top finishers from Africa, Oceana, Europe, and Asia each secured an Olympic slot — assuming no one from their home country finishes ahead of them at the 2020 ISA World Championship or in the WCT rankings.

Got that? Yah. I know, you totally got that.

The four lucky Olympic probably qualifiers are: Bianca Buitendag for South Africa, Shina Matsuda from Japan, Ella Williams from New Zealand, and Anat Leilor from Israel, which is considered part of Europe for surfing.

Look, I don’t make the rules here. In an odd twist, all four secure provisional qualification, while placing below winner Mulánovich.

Though Moore is the highest finishing U.S. woman at the ISA event, her qualification for Tokyo remains dependent on her WCT ranking at the end of 2019. The copper medal is a nice souvenir for her trophy chest, but doesn’t play any role in the Olympic selection process.

I’m not sure that it should, but it’s an odd thing to have an event that sorta counts, but sorta doesn’t at all.

This is all totally fine. But you know what’s really keeping me up at night?

Surfing has two different world championship titles. Mulánovich has won three world championships in surfing — two at the ISA world championship and one from the ASP.

What kind of sport has two entirely different ways to become a world champion? Surfing, you are such a weirdo.

In the long run, I suspect this situation will not continue to confound us. For just last week, or maybe it was the week before, the WSL got out of the business of crowning a big wave world champion. When Chas wisely asked Pat O’Connell whether the CT might go the way of the Big-Wave Tour, the answer wasn’t yes. But it was also not a firm no.

It is easy to imagine a future in which the World Surf League runs a series of events and makes media about surfing. It might look something like professional tennis.

ISA would then be in charge of the whole world championship medal business, including the copper.

I never really expected that pro surfing would try to be tennis and Red Bull at the same time.

Weird flex, pro surfing, weird flex.