Cut CT Surfers Dominate The Day at Manly Beach
After finishing in fifth place on the 2021 Championship Tour Rankings and claiming the coveted title of Rookie of the Year, it was a shock to see Morgan Cibilic (AUS) miss the Mid-season Cut and fall from the CT to the CS less than 12 months later. Today at Manly, Cibilic continued to bounce back from the disappointment, posting the third highest heat total of the day with an excellent 16.00 point two-wave total. Ciblic’s precise and lightning quick backhand was on full display as he booked himself a spot in the Round of 16 at the Sydney Surf Pro.
“That was a great heat for me to win today,” Ciblic said. “The last few heats, I haven’t really been that well prepared for the heats but I made an effort to get back to the basics, prepare properly and well, the results are there and going forward I will remain focused.”
The main competitor to out score Cibilic today at Manly was his fellow Novacastrian Ryan Callinan (AUS) who posted a 16.77 heat total to comfortably win his heat. Callinan’s total included a 9.00 point ride for a massive full rotation air-reverse to the flats.
A former winner here at Manly, Deivid Silva (BRA) knows what it takes to get a CT qualification campaign underway in the small shifting peaks of Manly. The super quick goofy-footer put on a frontside, rail surfing clinic to post his mid-range score and progress into the Round of 16 and guarantee a keeper result before leaving Australia.
“I have won this event before (2018) and I feel I can win again,” said Silva. “The ocean conditions are very hard but these waves are really similar to what I surf on my home beaches in Brazil so I know I can surf well here, my equipment is specialised for these waves so let’s go for these final days.”
Other standouts included reigning event winner Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA) who took a commanding win in his Round of 24 heat as well as Michael Rodrigues (BRA) who again posted an excellent heat total with his speed and finesse on the rail. Imaikalani deVault (HAW) also continued his charge towards Finals Day and towards Championship Tour requalification with another strong showing at Manly Beach today. |