Kanoa Igarashi aims to secure Olympic quota at 2026 Asian Games, Aichi-Nagoya, Japan; First chance to qualify for LA28.

Japan’s surfing hero Kanoa Igarashi returns to home waves with goal to secure Olympic quota

The Tokyo 2020 medallist is aiming to make his third consecutive Olympic Games at LA28 by securing Japan a quota at the 2026 Asian Games in September.

The road to the surfing competition at the LA28 Olympic Games begins in a matter of days with numerous qualification opportunities spread between September 2026 and June 2028.

Olympic silver medallist Kanoa Igarashi is determined to cut the waiting time and secure a spot at the first opportunity, the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, using the home waves and crowds as motivation.

“I really want to win the Asian Games and earn an Olympic spot,” the Japanese surfer told Kyodo News ahead of the multi-sport event, which takes place from 19 September to 4 October.

" If I surf my way, I can stand out ."

The gold medallists in the men’s and women’s surfing competitions at the 2026 Asian Games will obtain a spot for their National Olympic Committees (NOCs)*.

Surfing will be held in Tahara, Aichi Prefecture, where Igarashi competed during the 2018 ISA World Surfing Games , finishing with a silver behind Argentina’s Santiago Muñiz .

He repeated that silver-medal result at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games after challenging Brazil’s Ítalo Ferreira in the final.

*As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective teams at the Olympic Games, athletes’ participation at the LA Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at LA28.

Olympic medallist Kanoa Igarashi on learning to love his multicultural background: ‘Always in my head, I felt like an outsider’

Kanoa Igarashi: How surfing helped me embrace my mixed heritage

The Olympic medallist shared his unique experience of growing up in both the Japanese and American cultures, discovering a sense of belonging through the ocean, and learning to love his differences after competing for Japan at his home Olympic Games of Tokyo 2020 in 2021. Watch for more of this exclusive interview with the man who was once the youngest rookie surfer on the World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour and won ISA World Surfing Games gold in 2022.

Igarashi has not surfed competitively in Japan since that Olympic final in 2021 and is relishing the return to the home waves, especially now that he is learning more about his heritage.

“Just being able to surf in front of Japanese fans makes me happy,” said Igarashi, who was born to Japanese parents and was raised in a traditional Japanese household in California.

If Igarashi competes at LA28, it will be his third consecutive Olympic Games. After finishing on the podium at Tokyo 2020, he advanced to Round 3 at Paris 2024 before falling to eventual bronze medallist Gabriel Medina .

His toughest competition for gold at the Asian Games is expected to come from fellow Olympians and Championship Tour surfers, Rio Waida of Indonesia and Connor O’Leary of Japan.

Olympic Surf-a-rama | Kanoa Igarashi

“Olympic Surf-a-rama” hosted by Summer the Surfboard offers first-hand insights into Olympic surfers. This episode features Olympic surfer Kanoa Igarashi!

Picture by Ben Thouard - Pool

19 September - 4 October

Multisport | Asian Games | Aichi and Nagoya | Japan