Grand final in Stella's sights

Gisborne surfer Stella Smith in action at the ISA SUP and Paddleboard World Championship in China. Smith is eyeing a place in the grand final of the women’s surfing. ISA pictures

Gisborne teenager Stella Smith is into the main event final of the women’s surfing division at the ISA SUP and Paddleboard World Championship in Wanning, China.

Smith, 16, placed second in her round 3 heat to advance to what is a two-life heat against Yuuka Horikoshi of Japan, 2013 world champion Nicole Pacelli of Brazil and Iballa Ruano Moreno of Spain.

The top two move on to the grand final while the third and fourth placegetters get a second chance to make the final through a repechage round.

New Zealand open champion Smith won her round 1 heat with a score of 9.26, was second in round 2 with 10.46 and second in round 3 with 10.86.

Fellow Gisborne surfer Sean Hovell placed 11th-equal in the men’s SUP surfing.

Hovell won his round 1 heat with 10.04, was second in round 2 with 7.93 and third in round 3 with 7.57.

That dropped him into the repechage rounds, where he placed second with 8.90 in repechage round 4 and third in repechage round 5 with 12.10.

Meanwhile, Gisborne-Mahia surfer Ricardo Christie is set to start his final push for a place on the World Surf League’s 2019 Championship Tour.

Christie is competing in the final Qualifying Series contest of the year — the Vans World Cup — which started today at Sunset Beach, Hawaii.

Christie is seeded into round 3 of the 10,000-point contest, which is also the second event of the Triple Crown series.

Australian Joel Parkinson leads the series after winning the Hawaiian Pro, with Christie third.

Christie is in a strong position to earn a spot in the 2019 CT. He is sitting seventh on the QS rankings — the top 10 earning places on the CT.