Footage from Surf Stadium Japan in Shizunami southwest of Tokyo was leaked yesterday on Instagram and the park looks, well, it looks good. The Japanese wave pool features American Wave Tech., the same tech found at Waco, Texas. The building of the park has been an epic journey, to say the least. Fighting through a global pandemic, it was still one of the fastest pool builds on record.

In a piece last month, we reported on the general concern that the first Olympics featuring surfing might be a desperate affair, as the season for hosting a surf contest on Japanese beaches is more late summer to fall, and even into winter. The leaked footage leaves most of the competitive surf world wondering: could this be a backup spot if conditions for surfing’s first Olympiad are putrid? That probably wouldn’t surprise anyone.

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