Dominic Barona and Alonso Correa won in San Bartolo

Peru made the home team respect its home team; six of the eight best teams in the event were locals

March 11th, 2018

The San Bartolo QS ended with a Peruvian party in a 100% local final, with Alonso Correa beating Miguel Tudela in a final that the young goofy footer dominated from start to finish.

On the women's side, the party was all Ecuadorian. Dominic Barona met up again with his Peruvian friend, Analí Gómez, and made the most of his backside to win.

But above all, this tournament was a Peruvian celebration, combining both categories. By the semi-finals, six of the eight surfers competing were local. In the case of the men, 100% of the semi-finalists were from Peru.

“I am super happy, I needed this motivation because I hadn’t done well in Australia. I came back a little down, but the training and hard work are paying off,” said Barona after winning. All photos: Zanocchi

It was Correa's first win in a WSL tournament. She dominated from start to finish, scoring 17,6 (9+8,6) versus a not inconsiderable 15,9 (8+7,9) from Miguel Tudela, who had to change boards halfway through his series but kept his focus to fight until the last second.

But Correa was determined throughout the event. He looked very focused and had a determination that somehow made it clear that something important was going to happen to him. And it did.

“I’m very happy. I’ve always had good results here but I’ve never managed to win,” he said. “It was special to win with my family on the beach… I wanted to win… I was thinking during the 35-minute heat that I wanted my name to appear on the World Surf League website, which is actually a great thing,” he concluded.

Juninho Urcia and Joaquín del Castillo were the other two semi-finalists, completing a rather curious statistic: Four male semi-finalists, four goofies. Two female finalists, two goofies. The backside sticks definitely convinced the judges more than the front turns or the aerials.

Tudela was precise in the tournament, winning his series with ease until he met an inspired Alonso Correa in the grand final.

Analí Gómez's backside sticks deserve a place on the CT. How would they look now on Snappers?

Juninho Urcia is one of the best lesser-known surfers on the continent. That fluid, fast and radical backside gave him a solid place in the semi-final.

Sofía Mulanovich's comeback lived up to expectations: She won the first stage of the Peruvian national championship and placed third in the QS. Now she's off to the 1500m in Mar del Plata.

Joaquín del Castillo's clean and well-projected backside came very close to the final. He lost in the semis to the tournament champion.

The women's final was very different from the men's, with several waves that were wasted, the score says: 11,75 (6+5,75) vs 8,35 (5+3,35). Barona was a little more consistent and completed the waves, that made the big difference and gave the victory to the Ecuadorian.

“I'm super happy, I needed this motivation because I hadn't done well in Australia. I came in a bit down, but the training and hard work are paying off,” said Barona after winning.

We will expand.

Final results

Ladies
1- Dominic Barona
2- Anali Gomez

Semifinals
S1: Dominic Barona defeated Sofia Mulanovich
S2: Anali Gomez defeated Camila Cassia

Quarter finals
S1: Dominic Barona defeated Lucia Indurain
S2: Sofia Mulanovich defeated Taina Hinckel
S3: Camila Cassia defeated Nathalie Martins
S4: Anali Gomez defeated Melanie Giunta

Final
1- Alonso Correa
2- Miguel Tudela

Semifinals
S1: Miguel Tudela beat Juninho Urcia
S2: Alonso Correa – Joaquin del Castillo

Quarter finals
S1: Miguel Tudela defeated Wesley Santos
S2: Juninho Urcia defeated Jhonny Guerrero
S3: Joaquin del Castillo defeated Lucca Messinas
S4: Alonso Correa defeated Renan Peres