Cover photo: ISA/Sean Evans

A hectic men's final day of the UR ISA World Surfing Games determined the top men's qualifiers for Lima 2019, surfing's debut at the world's second-largest multi-sport event.

American Kevin Schulz secured his place in Lima 2019, followed by Argentine Santiago Muñiz and Peruvian Lucca Mesinas.

The determination of the host country quotas took many very experienced national and international federation managers by surprise. The question that had them scratching their heads was whether Lucca Messinas' second place qualified Kevin Schulz for his ticket or not. It turned out that yes, Messinas qualified but occupied one of the two places as host country and left the place of the "Pan American" country, in this case, the United States, available.

On the women's side, there are no other Pan American surfers left except three Americans: McDougal, Macedo and Caitlin Simmers. The latter, as she was born after 2004, is not eligible to compete in Lima 2019, so her place will be determined by the other two.

According to the qualifying criteria, in order for these two surfers to qualify, the United States would have to be ranked in the top two spots in the PASA ranking for countries, not including Peru. If the United States fails to do so, then Canadian Bethany Zelasko, who finished the tournament in eleventh place, would qualify.

Local classification criteria
The criteria used by PASA to determine the members of the local team, two open women and two open men, are not entirely clear. According to DUKE, the Peruvians have to obtain (like Mesinas) their ticket by entering among the best in each event. If they do not achieve this, the positions of each of them will be verified following the hierarchy (first ISA, then PASA, finally ALAS).

So, if in the PASA games they do not manage to place among the two champion nations by teams, nor among the six best eligible, nor among the two best in ALAS, the ranking of these World Surfing Games will be reviewed. In that case, for example, the women's qualifiers would be Sofía Mulanovich, who finished 13th, and Analí Gómez, who finished 37th. Although this, of course, would be something quite unlikely because Peru will compete with a very strong team between December 2 and 9 in Punta Rocas.

Classified: 
Santiago Muñiz (best Pan American in the event)
Lucca Mesinas (second best Pan American, uses host nation spot)
Kevin Schulz (third best Pan American, second best eligible)