Alonso Correa may be a surfer, but he has an impressive drive. He experiences every competition, every victory and every defeat as if it were the final of the world championship. It may not be the healthiest way to live on a tour where you often lose without having done anything wrong, but at the same time this makes him leave his life on the court.

Last week in Portugal, many people didn't know who he was or what he was capable of. It turned out that a right-hander that was a mix of Caballeros, La Isla and Punta Rocas was the stage for a 10.000. And since Alonso knows how to put the board where the judges pay, he went through series after series until he obtained the best result of the year and of his career in the WSL. He climbed 40 steps and is now the best Peruvian in the CT.

If he makes it to two semi-finals in Haleiwa and Sunset he could become the first Peruvian man to make it to the CT, he has everything to achieve it.

On paper it's the best result of your WSL career, does that feel like it?
Yes, definitely, it's a great result, it's not like winning and it didn't feel like that either, it was a strange championship; my main goal was to get to the third round and in order to improve my ranking points I had to get through the first round only, so when I completed that, I was quite happy.

In fact, I think that passing the first heat was where I was happiest and felt the most emotions, after that it was just doing my job in the water without thinking about it too much. I say it was a strange championship because normally the emotions are much bigger, this time I eliminated that a little and just thought about what I was going to do in the water.

At what point did you see that you could make so much progress at this event?
I always knew I could progress like that and if you look back at the heat I lost, if I had caught the same waves I think I could have gotten better scores than him.

So it's about staying connected and making the right decisions in the heats., not thinking about the championship in general but about the precise moment you are in.

Obviously I was pretty confident with a week of training and knowing that my surfing was right for the wave, but when I came back from Japan and saw all the pros freesurfing it did intimidate me a little and brought me back to the reality that it was going to be a pretty tough championship.

What happened at this event that was different from other events?
I think this event was a little different because qualifying itself was crazy. Look at how many championships I've done on tour this year. The effort and determination I put into qualifying was so great that once I was on the list of those who were going to compete I felt that the biggest job was already done and I just had to compete smartly to achieve a good result.

It makes it clear once again that more important stages are needed in pointbreaks, what do you think?
Yes, of course. Coming from Peru, it's good for me to have championships of this magnitude in good waves and having more would make things a little easier for all of us Latinos. But now Hawaii is coming and it's a great opportunity in waves that we can't complain about.

What I can make clear is that we are missing bigger scoring events in Latin America. Imagine, with a result in a 10.000m and then with only results in thousand-point championships, I am in 40th place in the ranking. What would have happened if I had had another 10.000m date in Peru where I would have had the chance and more ease to get another result? That's the reality, I could be on the verge of the top 10 with just two more dates in Hawaii. And it's the same throughout Latin America. I honestly don't complain, two years ago having a QS date was a crazy idea in Peru, this year it started with a thousand and now a 1500. I just hope that more brands get excited and support this cause and next year more can be done and with higher scores.

You thanked the Portuguese coach Pyrriat on social media. What advice did he give you that was so helpful?
I thanked Pyrrat, first because he welcomed us into his home and had us there like his own children and that is something incredible, second because he was my coach in the championship, I knew that having someone from there helping me was a good thing. He knows the beach like the back of his hand and in the training sessions we did before the championship he explained to us what the beach was like and made us understand it quite well. Before the heats we talked and decided what to do regarding the conditions. That was the most important thing and that is why I continue to thank him!

What comments did you receive on the beach from people and competitors?
All positive things! People and my friends were happy because I was doing well in the championship.

With two 5000 point results at Haleiwa and Sunset, or a win there, you get into the CT, does that cross your mind?
How could I not think about it (laughs)?! Qualifying for the CT is my dream and goal. But I'm not going to Hawaii thinking about that, I'm going to do my work series by series and if things work out, incredible, if not, more motivated for next year. I can't stop thanking my parents who are my biggest support and support, my brother for being the best advisor/coach/brother/friend, Hurley for the support and Milton Whilar for shaping my magic boards, the crlsurfteam and Sebastian Alarcon for supporting me at all times and being a great coach. And special thanks also to FENTA who has helped us athletes participate in WQS championships abroad by sending us coaches Gabriel Aramburu and Renato Quezada.