Ryan Callinan Wins Ericeira Pro, Is (Probably) Back On CT

With the Billabong Pro Ericeira coming to a close (and Ryan Callinan seizing victory!), the 2018 QS season has only two major events left on its schedule: the Hawaiian Pro at Haleiwa and the Vans World Cup at Sunset Beach. 

This means the current QS standings are a fairly good indicator of which surfers will find themselves on the 2019 Championship Tour. Shall we have a glance at the top 10?

Sitting well in the lead is “Japan’s” Kanoa Igarashi, who considering his current place on the CT (ninth), is going to double-qualify and is therefore an irrelevant placeholder in this discussion (though his QS dominance is impressive).

This makes Ryan Callinan the “true” leader of the Qualifying Series.

Once a CT-struggler and always a freesurf standout, the Newcastle lad has won two major events this year – the first in Japan and the second just today in Portugal, where he defeated World Champ Gabriel Medina and QS leader Kanoa Igarashi en route to victory. His current standing means Ryan is all but guaranteed to qualify for next year’s CT, which is a sigh of relief for Australian surf fans, who following Julian’s fall from grace, were beginning to fear an infinite competitive decline. 

We tried to get on the phone with Ryan, but seeing as how it’s 11:30 PM in Portugal on the night of a major event he just won, it’s safe to say Ryan’s got more entertaining options than to talk with a nerdy keyboard warrior. Enjoy your night Callinan, you deserve it!

Following Callinan is Griffin Colapinto, who will also double-qualify for next year’s Tour. 

Seth Moniz comes next, and the Hawaiian will be a true-blue rookie in 2019. 

Peterson Crisanto and Deivid Silva are two relatively unknown Brazilians who, barring a catastrophic end-of-season run, will also likely qualify. 

Jadson “Little Engine that Could” Andre is right behind them, scratching his way back into the big leagues for the 34th time. 

Jorgann Couzinet, Ethan Ewing, Alejo Muniz, Leonardo Fioravanti, Mikey Wright, Evan Geiselman, Ricardo Christie, Tanner Hendrickson and Jack Freestone are sitting in those 8-15 bubble spots, which will inevitably change come December. 

All said, the QS is a painstakingly difficult endeavor and reaching that top-10 come season’s end is a feat both of talent and perseverance. We’ll be watching closely to see who might become next year’s Wade Carmichael or Griffin Colapinto. 

But for now we celebrate Mr. Callinan.