The great result of Lucca Mesinas in Pipeline that drives the return of a World Tour competition to Peru

This time nature was not on his side and the Pipeline gods chose Brazilian Miguel Pupo over Lucca Messinas in the quarterfinals in Hawaii. In difficult conditions, the Peruvian surfer could not advance any further – he could only take three waves, and in one of them he scored five points when his rival already had eight – and finished in fifth place on the first date of the World Tour.

Unfortunately, the Peruvian ended up with a cut on his chin that he suffered when he fell from the wave and hit the bottom. At one point in his heat, he was seen approaching the spotlight boat, but kept running until the very last second. They had to close with eight stitches, which he himself showed on his social networks.

Despite this, Lucca begins his official presence on the World Tour with a fifth place that gives him 4,475 points to start the sum in the ranking. To stay in this first division he must finish the first five dates –the best four results will be counted– located among the top 20. Thus, he will continue to compete in the second part of the year in the CT. Otherwise, he will have to do it in the Challenger Series for a new classification to the World Tour.

Between the best

“The wind changed and the waves were rough. Just for his heat, the conditions changed, the wind was against him and he started to enter from the side. But it is a historic fifth place in Pipeline”, Gabriel Villarán told us, who was on the beach, along with other national surfers, supporting Lucca.

Villarán himself reminded us that he had managed to reach a Pipeline final in 2006, but it was in a QS event. “Now Lucca is in the CT, it’s another level, and it’s super positive to start with a fifth place. He has talent, desire, qualities. They call it ‘The Machine’, the Machine because it is a competition machine”added Villaran.

For Peruvian surfing this is the first male national participation as part of the CT (Championship Tour or World Tour) and Lucca got among the best. In addition, if we consider only the 12 who rose from the Challenger Series, along with the Brazilian Samuel Pupo -Miguel’s brother- they were the ones who advanced the most, to be in fifth place. Another three stayed in the ninth box and the others from position 17 backwards.

Sofia Mulanovich also adds to the congratulations to Lucca. “He has made history in Pipe. The Pipe Master is the most recognized championship in the world and both Lucca and Miguel have made it clear that Peruvians are very complete surfers ready for all conditions. Incredible that his first WCT has reached the quarterfinals and the Pipe. He is a total teacher! An inspiration for all Peruvian sports”Sofi tells us about what Mesinas has done in Hawaii.

Furthermore, fifth place equals Lucca’s best finish in a top event. Last year he held that position in the Pro France of the Challenger Series and added 5 thousand points, which practically led him to qualify for the CT. Good start for Lucca, who will have to recover from that wound on her face to be 100% ready for what will be Sunset Beach, the second date that should start on February 11 in Hawaii itself.

The TC in Peru

But Lucca’s successes will not be left alone on foreign waves. From now on they are thinking of taking advantage of his presence on the World Tour to try to bring one of his dates to Peruvian territory. That is the intention of the Peruvian Tabla Federation, according to Magoo de la Rosa.

“He could not have had a better start, because now Sunset comes, which favors him. Pipeline is very complicated”Magoo tells us about Lucca’s participation and is optimistic that Lucca will remain in the top division in the middle of the year.

Magoo hopes that Lucca will stay for a long time so that the World Surf League can look to Peru for their competitions. “I am proposing to start with a Challenger championship and next year try to do a CT in Peru. We deserve it”, says De la Rosa, who is Head of the Technical Command of the Peruvian surf team. He reminded us that the same thing happened when Sofía Mulanovich was in the CT at the beginning of 2000 and then she was able to do two dates in Máncora.

“We are in talks. I was able to talk to people from the WSL. They are trying to do a Challenger in November in Punta Rocas, where the High Performance Center helps us. And next year it would be a CT”, he tells us. In the coming days, he will seek to meet with more sports authorities to try to consolidate the idea.

This is what drives the presence of Lucca Messinas in the elite of surfing. Peruvian talent has been demonstrated both with him and with Miguel Tudela, who last year competed in the Olympic Games. And there are more names, like Alonso Correa, who was close to joining the World Tour and this year he will go for that goal.