Morgan Cibilic falls one heat short of Championship Tour return

Cibilic, the 2021 world No.5 who missed the inaugural mid-season CT cut this year, needed to progress past the quarter-finals on Saturday (AEDT) at the Challenger Series (CS) event to secure a top 10 finish on the second-tier and book his return to the elite tour for 2023.

After a slow start in the 30-minute, four-man quarter-final, the 23-year-old Merewether surfer got in the contest with a 4.57 with 10 minutes to go from two turns. He fell on the finishing third move.

With Japan's Kanoa Igarashi dominating early with scores of 8.17 and 8.0, the battle for second place and the other position in the semi-finals was intense.

Cibilic needed a 5.94 to take second spot and he took off on a wave in the final minute, peeling off three turns in the bumpy four-to-six foot conditions.

He was given only a 5.1 and finished last in the heat, ending his contest and leaving him outside the CS top 10. Kauli Vaast was second (11.03), ahead of Frederico Morais (10.60) and Cibilic (9.67).

Cibilic finished 12^th, dropping one spot, on the CS after failing to add to his 14,705 points, which are tallied from the best four results of the year. It allowed Hawaii's Ezekiel Lau (15,770) to stay 10^th and return to the CT. Cibilic would have taken his spot had he made the semis.

Merewether clubmate Ryan Callinan, who also missed the mid-season cut, was already guaranteed a return to the CT and finished his CS campaign with a first final in Hawaii and a rise to second spot overall.

Callinan won his quarter-final with a score of 12.73 before dominating his semi-final with a total of 17.34. He finished last with 11.2 in the four-man final won by John John Florence (16.77).

The 30-year-old was using the trip to Hawaii as preparation for the CT season start there at Pipeline (January 29) and Sunset Beach (February 11).

"All it takes sometimes is just one wave to go your way," Callinan said after his semi.

"And the barrel, I think it was all I could do, so I just gave it my best shot. After that I was just trying to back my scores up and the waves just kept providing for me. And unfortunately it went flat for everyone else.

"To put in a performance like that here in Hawaii to make the final, I've never made a final here, so it's super exciting."

Newcastle-based South African Sarah Baum was third in her quarter-final to bow out but rise two spots to equal 10th on the women's CS. She entered the contest needing to win it to have any hope of qualifying.

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