Ricardo Christie advances in Brazil

Christie winning his round 3 heat at Margaret River. File picture

SURFING

THERE’S a wall in front of Championship Tour surfer Ricardo Christie that he is determined to break through.

He gets another chance in Brazil this week after advancing to the round of 32 at the Oi Rio Pro — the fifth contest on the World Surf League’s Championship Tour.

Gisborne-Mahia surfer Christie has made the round of 32 in all four CT contests so far. However, that is where each of the contests have ended for the 30-year-old.

Today he avoided the dreaded elimination round by finishing second in his seeding round heat at Saquarema, Rio de Janeiro. Christie faced South African Jordy Smith, who is sitting fifth on the overall rankings, and Brazilian Willian Cardoso.

Smith had easily beaten Christie in the seeding round at the previous CT contest in Western Australia, but this time had a heat he would rather forget.

Cardoso won with a score of 10.47 for his two best waves (6.0, 4.47), Christie was second with 9.0 (4.0, 5.0) and Smith struggled to 6.30 (3.67, 2.63).

The top two advanced to the round of 32, while Smith faces the elimination round involving the 16 surfers who placed third in each of the seeding heats. If Christie can move on from the round of 32, he will move up from his 29th ranking. The top 22 at the end of the 11-contest CT season retain their places for the 2020 tour. Hawaiian John John Florence, who won his seeding round heat, leads the overall standings.