Brazilian Lucas “Chumbo” Chianca dominated once again at El Gringo and stood above the rest of the competitors, adding the best score of the event so far and the best wave.

In his heat he found the exit of two long, wide and deep tubes to add 18,6 (9,77+8,83), leaving the rest of his heat in combolandia. The second was the Mexican Jhonny Corzo who in his two best waves added 6,67.

Chianca is now in round 3. He is the favorite but has a long way to go to achieve his stated goal of becoming the tournament champion.

Related reading: “I don’t want to survive the big waves, I want to surf them” – Interview with Lucas Chianca

The 2016 El Gringo champion, William Aliotti from the tiny Caribbean island of St. Martin, was another who put in a convincing performance, scoring 15,50 after exiting two tubes that his other competitors wanted nothing to do with.

Nic Von Rupp, already in round 3, did not show any fear and he got off a lot of waves. The best was a 7,83 obtained after going through a tube that he could not get out of. He added 12 points in total and got into the top 32.

In that same heat, Costa Rican Noe Mar McGonagle, who had just placed third in the 6000 in Japan, was eliminated from the event. He placed third in a heat in which the judges were stingy with their tubes and very generous with the only good wave surfed by Brazilian Pedro Neves.

With a lot of skill and class on the tubes, Mexican Sasha Donnanno, who arrived in Chile with a poor ranking, has already managed to go through three rounds that guarantee him a minimum of 555 points that will catapult him from position 450 to at least the top 150.

Local hero Manuel Selman was the other rider who managed to get into the top 32 of the championship, in the last heat of the day which already showed the conditions strongly affected by the wind.

The waves will continue to pump tomorrow and look set to pick up on Saturday for what could be the final day of the championship. Organizers are aiming to complete 12 heats a day and today they managed to make some room, with 15 heats being contested.

Results of the day
4th: 1-João Chianca (BRA), 2-Danilo Cerda (CHL), 3-Luke Hynd (AUS), 4-Cristobal Montecinos (CHL)
5.a: 1-Yagê Araujo (BRA), 2-Adrian Garcia (PER), 3-Nahuel Amalfitano (ARG), 4-Israel Barona (EQU)
6.a: 1-Igor Moraes (BRA), 2-Tomas Lopez Moreno (ARG), 3-Fernando Junior (BRA), 4-Dylan Christensen (USA)
7.a: 1-Joaquin del Castillo (PER), 2-Samuel Igo (BRA), 3-Dammian Alfaro (CHL), 4-Micky Clarke (USA)
8.a: 1-Nicolas Vargas (CHL), 2-Max Kearney (AUS), 3-Chauncey Robinson (USA), 4-Alex Lima (BRA)
9.a: 1-Myles Laine-Toner (USA), 2-Tyler Gunter (USA), 3-Leonardo Acevedo (CHL), 4-Eithan Osborne (USA)
10: 1-William Aliotti (FRA), 2-Geraoid McDaid (IRL), 3-Thomas Cervi (AUS), 4-Martin Passeri (ARG)
11: 1-Yuri Gonçalves (BRA), 2-Arne Bergwinkl (ALE), 3-Sebastian Correa (PER), 4-Lucas Wrice (AUS)
12: 1-Pedro Dib (BRA), 2-Facundo Arreyes (ARG), 3-Wesley Santos (BRA), 4-Herbert Moreno (BRA)
13: 1-Lucas Chianca (BRA), 2-Jhonny Corzo (MEX), 3-Riley Laing (AUS), 4-Christopher Herold (CHL)
14: 1-Wiggolly Dantas (BRA), 2-Vitor Ferreira (BRA), 3-Roberto Araki (CHL), 4-Andro Goravica (CHL)
15: 1-Nick Callister (AUS), 2-Braden Jones (USA), 3-Stevie Pittman (USA), 4-Jonathan Zambrano (EQU)
16: 1-Leonardo Barcelos (BRA), 2-Luis Perloiro (PRT), 3-Wesley Leite (BRA), 4-Jacob Araya (CHL)

Round 3
1st: 1-Nic Von Rupp (PRT), 2-Pedro Neves (BRA), 3-Noe Mar McGonagle (CRI), 4-Ryland Rubens (USA)
2.a: 1-Manuel Selman (CHL), 2-Sasha Donnanno (MEX), 3-Skip McCullough (USA), 4-Austin Neumann (USA)

Round 3, the following series remain to be played:
3.a: Parker Coffin (USA), Jacob Willcox (AUS), Takuto Ohta (JPN), Danilo Cerda (CHL)
4.a: Kiron Jabour (HAV), Vitor Mendes (BRA), Joao Chianca (BRA), Kael Walsh (AUS)
5th: Marco Giorgi (URU), Alvaro Malpartida (PER), Yagê Araujo (BRA), Tomas Lopez Moreno (ARG)
6th: Tomas Tudela (PER), Dean Bowen (AUS), Igor Moraes (BRA), Adrian Garcia (PER)
7th: Jordy Collins (USA), Alonso Correa (PER), Joaquin del Castillo (PER), Max Kearney (AUS)
8th: Miguel Tudela (PER), Gustavo Dvorquez (CHL), Nicolas Vargas (CHL), Samuel Igo (BRA)
9.a: Carlos Munoz (CRI), Guillermo Satt (CHL), Myles Laine-Toner (USA), Gearoid McDaid (IRL)
10: Weslley Dantas (BRA), Quinn Bruce (AUS), William Aliotti (FRA), Tyler Gunter (USA)
11: Lucas Silveira (BRA), Robson Santos (BRA), Yuri Gonçalves (BRA), Facundo Arreyes (ARG)
12: Raoni Monteiro (BRA), Leandro Usuna (ARG), Pedro Dib (BRA), Arne Berwinkl (ALE)
13: Thiago Camarão (BRA), Cristobal de Col (PER), Lucas Chianca (BRA), Vitor Ferreira (BRA)
14: Jack Robinson (AUS), Jeronimo Vargas (BRA), Wiggolly Dantas (BRA), Jhonny Corzo (MEX)
15: Jared Hickel (AUS), Nomme Mignot (FRA), Nick Callister (AUS), Luis Perloiro (PRT)
16: Aritz Aranburu (ESP), Torrey Meister (HAV), Leonardo Barcelos (BRA), Braden Jones (USA)

Cover photo: WSL/Nicolas Diaz