All photos: WSL/Nico Diaz - Special coverage brought to you by Maui and Sons

Alonso Correa is so, so determined to get into the CT that he doesn't stop for a minute in his focus on achieving this goal. At the Maui and Sons Arica Pro he had an impeccable performance, he dominated the waves and knew how to compete well on them to finish in a very good second place that catapulted him to 13th in the ranking.

Regardless, he was not satisfied, he wanted to win and, as usual, he is constantly demanding more from himself. This demand, which makes him quite hard on himself, is the same one that could end up classifying him.

In the following paragraphs a short interview with the grand champion of the Maui and Sons Arica Pro.

How do you feel after this final?
Wow, very sad, very sad indeed, I had some waves, I fell in others, I didn't come out fair in a couple... I think I could have pushed a little harder, stood up a little stronger and been able to be in victory.

I think second place is the worst place (laughs), it's a very big difference in points and money from first place, being so close.

But I did my job, I came here before, I trained, I caught good waves, I tried to compete as intelligently as possible and I almost made it to the final in a championship that is very difficult to compete in. I hope to be able to continue this momentum for the next championships. I am looking to get on the tour and this brings me a little closer.

Anyway, do you see the positive side of having placed second?
Yes, of course, it's a very good thing. I'm closer than I was before to qualifying for the CT. So now the Ballito 10.000m is coming up and I'm going home to train very motivated for that event.

You are now 13th in the QS rankings, not bad at all.
Yes, in fact before coming to Iquique and Arica, I had my goal of how I had to finish in the ranking and I wanted to be in the top 15 and I did it. In fact, I was very sad that in Iquique I could have done a little better to get more points. But that's how competition is, there are many championships left and five count. I'll keep going, as always.

Looking back at the final, you who are so hard on yourself by saying that you could have done better, what went wrong?

I had two tubes that I didn't get out of fairly, I think that if I had done one more pump earlier, or if I had slowed down more on the three-point tube and been further inside... Those are the details that make the difference.

Now let's enjoy this, which is a good result, analyze it later and come back stronger next time.

Do you have faith that you will be in the top 10 at the end of the year? Is there something special inside you for 2019?
Yes. Nothing special, but last year I was close and had a good result in October, and this year I started with a good result, this one here and another in Australia, the only thing left to do is to go up, to improve and keep competing and keep getting results. I have faith in myself anyway, faith is the last thing to lose and that's it, you have to keep working because things are tough, you can go to a championship and lose in the first round very easily.

Next step Ballito, what are you going to do in the coming weeks?
I don't know what I'm going to do this week, there's a good swell coming so maybe I'll surf some waves, but the truth is that the next objective is Ballito. Training, I have almost a month, I'm going to train and be well prepared for there.

And a few weeks later you can win a ticket to the Olympics in your home, in Lima 2019, it is not a minor detail.
Of course, it is something very important, the Pan American Games in my home is a very big opportunity and I want to take advantage of it.