Ricardo Christie World Tour Qualification:

While we have put our reputations on the line already and announced that as far as we are concerned Ricardo is locked in for the World Tour in 2019. The WSL will not announce confirmation as it is still mathematically possible that 26 surfers can pass Ric on the ratings.

So we thought we’d break this down for you!

Out of that 26:

24 would have to make the final or better.. and considering there are only 4 spots in the final. This means if Leonardo Fioravanti and Jadson Andre make the quarters and semi respectively or better.. then there are technically only 6 surfers that can pass Ric on points.

Currently Ric sits 7^th the top 10 qualify. Yet Kanoa Igarashi is 100% already re-qualified through the World Tour, so therefore Ric sits 6^th on the WQS qualifier spots.. and has a 4 place buffer. If Griffin Colapinto qualifies via the World Tour at Pipe Ric will have a 5 place buffer..

So yes while it is mathematically possible, the odds of Ric not qualifying would be far more remarkable than the Oracle turnaround from an 8-1 hiding to win 9-8. And in that case there were only two teams involved not a field of 100+ duking it out in massive Sunset Beach.

All these above scenarios are only effective if Ric finishes 4^th in his round 3 heat. If he finishes 3^rd he will increase his overall score slightly and make it harder for 1-2 guys, and if he progresses through his heat into Round 4 he has 100% carved his qualification in stone for 2019.

Here are the placings that each surfer able to overtake Ric need at Sunset. Throw in the injection of big name locals and World Tour Surfers at this event.. and there’s NO WAY that this scenario can occur! Buckle up for one hell of a week!!