APB World Tour: there will be man-on-man heat from Round 4 on | Photo: Perez/APB

The Association of Professional Bodyboarding (APB) announced a revolution in the competitive format of professional bodyboarding.

The 2018 APB World Tour prepares to debut a new structure that will embrace the Men's, Pro Junior, and Drop Knee competitions.

As for the Men's World Tour, the APB is ready to implement a two-tier system that features a World Grand Slam Series (WGS), and a Qualifying Event Series Tour (QEST).

The WGS will showcase the top 32 bodyboarders (top 24 ranked athletes, four wildcards, and four trialists). The QEST is a qualifying circuit for all male athletes.

In a way, the APB World Tour hopes to mimic surfing's professional format (Championship Tour and Qualifying Series).

At the end of each season, the best eight bodyboarders on the QEST rankings will replace the bottom eight riders on the WGS leaderboard.

The world bodyboarding champion will be the one who has the best three WGS results. The four highest placed athletes of the QEST will earn their overall result based on their best two QEST events, and best WGS trials performances.

Man-On-Man Format From Round 4

According to the APB, the new WGS World Tour will also adopt a Shark Island Challenge-inspired format blended with a competitive man-on-man format.

As a result, all 32 competitors will surf three non-elimination rounds with the best three waves counting towards the top 16 cut, played out man-on-man, from Round 4 to the final.

"We aim to give ample opportunity to all athletes and also allow fans to watch their favorite athletes compete multiple times as they strive for the biggest scores possible," explain the organization led by Alex Leon.

"We also hope to eliminate the 'safe surf' concept that so often wins heats, but it is not exciting for spectators."

Pro Junior, DK, and Women

Finally, the APB decided to introduce a one-off format for the Drop-Knee and Pro Junior titles.

"These disciplines have struggled to maintain a high number of competitors, predominately due to high travel costs and small sponsorship support," the APB notes.

The 2018 Pro Junior World Championships and the 2018 World DK Championships will be decided in Viana do Castelo and Sintra, in Portugal, in September.

The Women's World Series (WWS) are open events, all handing out 5,000 points towards the rankings.

Explore the provisional 2018 APB World Tour schedule.

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