Peterson Crisanto won the first 10.000 of the year and put one foot in the CT 2019

Inspired by Willian Cardoso, the Brazilian repeated history in the South African QS. Jack Freestone was runner-up, Moniz and Wade Carmichael third.


June 30, 2018
|EN News
|POR DUKE

Brazilian Peterson Crisanto took home the 10.000 points and $40.000 prize in the first Prime event of the 2018 QS, the 50th edition of the Ballito Pro, in a final in which he surfed aggressively, actively and intelligently against Australian Jack Freestone.

Both were not favourites before the tournament began, Crisanto ranked 42nd and Freestone 158th. Now they are among the best in the QS and with much more plausible chances of getting into the CT for the first time for Crisanto (who reaches 13720 points and is the new leader) and of re-entering in the case of the Australian (who now has 9720 and is in the top 20).

The final began with what seemed to be a better wave from Freestone, who did about 10 moves on a perfect right. When he finished, the Australian celebrated, raising his arms. But on the back wave, Crisanto did two messier but more aggressive moves and scored an 8,7. He made it clear what the judges were looking for. Freestone was paid 7,8 for his neat combo.

With a backup of three maneuvers he added 8,2 and thus Crisanto left Freestone needing 9,1 that never came.

“I can’t believe it. I’ve been working for many years and I finally achieved this, I think this is my year,” Crisanto said at the awards ceremony. “This gives me a lot of confidence for the second half of the year, I’m going to stay focused and it would be nice to be able to qualify.”

The Brazilian has been surfing the world tour without a main sponsor for several years now and has even had to put aside his training to take regular jobs to pay the bills and save money for travel. This $40.000 is too good for his interest in getting on the tour.

Tied for third place were Seth Moniz and Wade Carmichael. The young Hawaiian added an important 6500 points and with another 4500 he earned after finishing second in Japan, he also looks solid for the 2019 CT. For his part, Carmichael, who had participated in only one tournament and had done poorly, now climbed 461 positions to place 24th.

Attacking the heavy sections was what the judges paid the most attention to and it was what gave Peterson Crisanto the win. All photos: WSL/Cestari
Freestone was up to the task in the final. His first wave came close to eight points, but Crisanto had other plans. All photos: WSL/Cestari

Final results
1- Peterson Crisanto
2- Jack Freestone
3- Seth Moniz and Wade Carmichael
5- Griffin Colapinto, Ricardo Christie, Krystian Kymerson and Thiago Camarao
9- Soli Bailey, Mike Wright, Imaikalani Devault, Jessé Mendes, Yago Dora, Jeremy Flores, Nat Young and Vasco Ribeiro

QS Top 10 after the first Prime event of the year
1- Peterson Crisanto 13720 points
2- Seth Moniz 12950
3- Mikey Wright 12205
4- Alejo Muniz 10980
5- Jack Freestone 9720
6- Deivid Silva 9400
7- Ryan Callinan 9280
8- Evan Geiselman 9210
9- Ricardo Christie 8555
10- Thiago Camarao 8265

Will this be the year? Brazilian Thiago Camarao placed fifth and entered the top 10 of the QS.
Wade Carmihchael had competed in only one event, where he had done poorly. His third place in the tournament made him jump 460 places in the rankings and enter the top 30.
While the waves were bad for most of the event, there were moments of brilliance in Ballito. The photo illustrates this. Seth Moniz is now second in the QS rankings with two solid results.

Brazil Jack Freestone Peterson Crisanto