The year has just begun on the CT, but it's going to be hard to top what happened at Bells Beach today. It wasn't the 1981 sea, it wasn't the 50-year storm (those things the WSL makes up), but it was a swell hitting Bells and the best surfers in the world.

It was one of those days where you test the limits of what is possible, especially how big you can do high performance surfing. And, on walls up to triple solid overhead, it became clear that it can be done.

John John Florence was the surfer of the day by far. He landed the giants and, at 6'2, he surfed them as if they were half a metre tall. He attacked critical masses of water where most human beings would be surfing straight up with a seven-footer.

Her performance was even better than Margaret's in 2017 because Bells was imperfect, with several steps and the sea was too rough. If she manages to connect two waves in the quarterfinals, semis and final, she wins the championship.

He will now face Gabriel Medina in the quarterfinals in what promises to be a great showdown. The two-time Brazilian champion put on a show, but as always, he was efficient in choosing waves and focused on the intermediate waves that opened up, not on the bombs.

Kelly Slater kept his form but did not shine like the day before. He surfed well but on the first board he chose he could not control the great speed he was carrying. Then he changed to a Simon Anderson and flowed much better. It happened that in a sea like that, Peterson Crisanto had no chance. Now he will face Ryan Callinan who was another who had the approach of John John, landing bombs and attacking impossible sections.

Italo Ferreira had a tough time after finishing a wave in his round 3 heat against Jack Freestone, he climbed the ladder and halfway up had to sit on the floor and be consoled by his girlfriend. A little while later he was winning his heat against Jeremy Flores.

Among the ladies there were two “surprises”: Courtney Conlogue knocked out Carissa Moore and Malia Manuel knocked out Steph Gilmore. Lakey Peterson almost lost to Coco Ho and Costa Rican Brisa Hennessy was not up to the level of the leader of the ranking, Caroline Marks.

This is how the event will be defined tomorrow:
Quarter finals
Series 1: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Ryan Callinan (AUS)
Series 2: Filipe Toledo (BRA) vs. Jacob Willcox (AUS)
Series 3: Gabriel Medina (BRA) vs. John John Florence (HAW)
Series 4: Italo Ferreira (BRA) vs. Jordy Smith (ZAF)

Semis
Series 1: Lakey Peterson (USA) vs. Courtney Conlogue (USA)
Series 2: Malia Manuel (HAW) vs. Caroline Marks (USA)