Kanoa Igarashi started surfing at the young of 3. His parents Tom and Misa moved from their home country of Japan to California, USA before he was born and Kanoa grew up surfing the legendary Southern California surf spot of Huntington Beach.
Growing up in Huntington, Kanoa was exposed to the best surfers in America and each year when the US Open came to town, Kanoa was able to surf with the best surfers from around the world. This shaped his surfing a by his teenage years had broken numerous records across America.
In 2016 and at the young age of 18 years, he qualified for the World Surfing Tour and took 2nd place at the final event of the year at pipeline. The following year he won the US Open in front of his home crowd and in 2019 broke through for his first victory on the World Surfing Tour at Bali in perfect waves. In 2021 he topped this off with a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics game, surfing for Japan.
Kanoa’s dynamic and fast surfing has him on course to challenge and win a World Surfing Title over the next few years. Still at a very young age, Kanoa’s carer and surfing can only continue to improve.