is a Japanese-American surfer who has competed professionally worldwide since 2012.
Early life Igarashi's father Tsutomu was a surfer in Japan and a fan of the sport. When his wife Misa found out she was pregnant, the couple quit their jobs in Tokyo and moved to Huntington Beach, California, aka Surf City, with the goal of raising their child to be a competitive surfer. Tsutomu took his son surfing as young as age 3, and would routinely wake him up to go surfing by 5:45AM so he could still make it to school on time. Igarashi won his first surfing trophy by age 7.
Career In 2016 he entered as the youngest rookie to the WSL CT and the first representative surfer for Japan in the WSL. He won the Vans U.S. Open WSL event in his hometown of Huntington Beach two years in a row in 2017 and 2018, but was eliminated early the following year. Igarashi's first 1st-place finish at a WSL CT event was at the Corona Bali Protected event in Indonesia in 2019; he placed 6th overall that year.
As a top ranked finisher of the 2019 WSL CT, Igarashi qualified to compete in the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo as a representative of Japan. The games were postponed to July 23, 2021, due to the 2019 coronavirus outbreak. The selected beach break for the competition was at Tsurigasaki beach in the town of Ichinomiya, Chiba prefecture. The chosen beach had special meaning to Igarashi as it was the same beach that his father Tsutomu not only surfed at, but also reportedly discovered with his friends and called "the Dojo". Igarashi won the silver medal in the competition. In 2016, he was the youngest rookie on the World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour (CT), and had collected more Round One wins than any other surfer, finished 2nd place at the Pipeline event, and 20th place overall that year. His greatest career performance was in the 2022 WSL CT where he finished top 5 and got to compete on the final event of the year held in Trestles California. He qualified for the 2024 Olympic Games.
Igarashi is a Red Bull Athlete.
Career victories WCT WinsYearEventVenueCountry 2019 Corona Bali Protected Keramas, Bali WQS WinsYearEventVenueCountry2018Vans US Open of Surfing - Men's QS Huntington Beach, California 2018Pro Santa Cruz 2018 pres. by Oakley Praia da Fisica, Santa Cruz 2017Vans US Open of Surfing - Men's QS Huntington Beach, California 2017Shoe City Pro Huntington Beach, California 2016Hang Loose Pro Contest 30 Anos Florianópolis, Santa Catarina 2016Pantin Classic Galicia Pro Valdoviño, Galicia 2015Mahalo Surf Eco Festival Itacaré, Bahia 2015Vans Pro Virginia Beach, Virginia 2014Shoe City Pro Huntington Beach, California Juniors WinsYear Event VenueCountry 2015 Los Cabos Open of Surf Zippers, San Jose del Cabo 2015 Hurley Australian OpenManly Beach, New South Wales
+WSL World Championship TourTournament2016201720182019Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast9th25th9th9thRip Curl Pro Bells Beach13th25th25th9thCorona Bali Protected - -25th1stMargaret River Pro13th13th25th9thOi Rio Pro13th9th9th5thCorona Open J-Bay13th25th3rd5thBillabong Pro Tahiti Teahupoo13th13th9th17thFreshwater Pro - -3rd9thQuiksilver Pro France13th25th25th17thMEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal13th3rd5th3rdBillabong Pipeline Masters2nd3rd13th17thFiji Pro13th25th - -Hurley Pro at Trestles13th5th - -OVERALL RANK20th17th10th6thEarnings$157,250$153,250$174,600$253,900
References
External links