Cover photo: Israel's waves will be key to European qualification. By WSL/Poullenot 

The qualifying period for WSL Latin America challenger events runs until April 10, 2022, the organization's press office informed DUKE.

In the case of Latin America, for now there are two events that count towards the classification of the challengers: the LayBack Pro held in Florianópolis and the Saquarema Surf Festival held in Saquarema.

According to DUKE, two events in Ecuador will close the regional season to determine the 10 men and 5 women who will qualify.

Among the Latin Americans, the Argentine Santiago Muñiz is the best placed among men, ranking 12th, followed by Alonso Correa in 18th, Nacho Gundensen in 19th, Miguel Tudela in 23rd and Sebastián Olarte in 34th.

Among the ladies, two of the top 5 in the ranking are Peruvian, Daniella Rosas and Arena Rodríguez; meanwhile, Melanie Giunta is ninth, Mimi Barona 13th and Sol Aguirre 15th.

At the North American level, where several Central Americans compete, 10 men and eight women qualify. At the women's level, Leilani McGonagle is now tenth and has two events ahead of her; one in Cocoa Beach at the 1000m level and a 3000m in Barbados. Havanna Cabrero is 12th and Rubiana Brownell 15th.

Among men, the best-placed Hispanic American is Alan Cleland at 20th in the ranking, Bryan Pérez is 26th, Jhony Corzo 27th and Venezuelan Derek Gomes 31st. The young Darshan Antequera who placed 13th in this weekend's Morro Bay event moved up to 38th position.

The good news for them is that at the men's level there will be one more event in March in the Dominican Republic.

At European level, 10 men and eight women have also qualified; they have already completed two events, the Azores and Anglet, and there are still three QS 3000 events to be held, in Israel in March and in Costa de Caparica, Portugal between April 5 and 10, and in Santa Cruz, Portugal between April 12 and 16.

In the ranking we see Adur Amatriain in a good eighth position, Andy Criere in 12th, Ruben Vitoria and Yago Dominguez in 16th and Luis Díaz in 24th.

At the women's level, Garazi Sánchez and Janire González Etxebarri are within the qualification zone in fifth place, while Nadia Erostarbe and Ariane Ochoa are on the threshold in ninth. Leticia Canalez is 13th, Violeta Sánchez 22nd and Lucía Martino 25th.

In the new format implemented by the WSL in 2020, but put into practice in 2021, qualifying for the challengers means taking the previous step to enter the elite that is the championship tour.