Lucca Messinas and the great welcome on the World Tour: “I’m already thinking about how to beat Kelly Slater”

What a welcome the World Surfing Tour (CT) is giving to the Peruvian Lucca Mesinas. A few days ago the programming of the heats of the first round of the Pipeline was known, the first date of the World Tour that is scheduled to start on January 29, and the Peruvian surfer will have to measure himself with nothing less than the icon Kelly Slater. In this competition, we will also be able to see Miguel Tudela in action, who benefited from a Wild Card to be part of the first stop of the World Surf League.

Lucca qualified for the World Tour and became the first Hispanic American to do so. Then Costa Rican Carlos Muñoz followed in his footsteps, and he will have a big reception. The Pipeline Pro will take place this weekend in Hawaii and Mesinas will have to face the historic Slater and his friend Kanoa Igarashi in his first heat. It will be in series 8 of the first round.

“It is brave to start the year competing against the best in the world or in the history of surfing, which is Kelly. That heat is going to be super fun and difficult”, Lucca tells us from Hawaii, where she has been since the beginning of the year preparing everything for her debut in the surfing elite.

Lucca got a spot after being among the top twelve in last year’s Challenger Series, that’s why he’s starting as a rookie. “A crossover like this was expected, because the rookies have a low classification and the best surfers get the first round. It is the difficult thing of the rookies ”, explains Pablo Zanocchi, Uruguayan surf journalist for the Duke Surf portal, who particularly follows Latin Americans in international competitions.

That shows how difficult the World Tour is, competitions that start with high difficulty from the first round -there are seven in total-. Indeed, Lucca himself confirms it for us. “Already knew. Every surfer knows that he is going to compete with the best in the world and it will not be easy. I am new and I am entering with a ranking of 30 out of 35. It’s going to touch me with the ranked ones. That is the difficult thing and the challenge at the same time”, he tells us.

Kelly Slater – 49 years old – United States

• 11 world titles
• 55 victories CT
• 1992 first title, 2021 last title
• 1989 first appearance on CT

Controversial and historical

In recent years, only Alonso Correa was able to compete in the same heat with Kelly Slater. The Hawaiian Pro of the 2019 Qualyfing Series did it. The Peruvian did it in a big way and advanced with the American to the next round, leaving out the South African Michael Febryary and the American Cole Houshmand.

“It’s the best welcome you’ve ever had”Alonso tells us. “He’s going to surf with the most experienced person and he’s going to learn a lot. I had a great time, I learned a lot from seeing the best of all time”, Alonso tells us briefly, who this year must compete in the Challenger Series to seek his classification to the CT.

For Lucca, the challenge will be to overcome either Kelly or Kanoa to advance to round 32. If he is third, he will have a chance in the elimination round, where draws are formed among those who fell in the first, and they have a chance to continue in race. “I trust myself, I know my abilities and I will try to pass that heat. I take it as motivation. How cool that I played against Kelly Slater in my first year, in my first heat. That will go down in history. From now on I’m thinking about how to beat him and it will remain more in my memory if I manage to beat them “, the Peruvian tells us.

Kelly is the icon of surfing and on February 11 she will be 50 years old. A few weeks ago he arrived in Hawaii to start his training and left a message that can open the door for Messinas to overcome him, although the American’s talent is so high that he will surely be ready to compete. “First real day surfing in over two months. A little out of shape and out of tune, but these two songs will be adjusted in the next two weeks”, Slater posted on his social media the first week of January.

However, he made news by defending Novak Djokovic in his anti-vaccine stance. “Why do you care about the other person’s condition? Unless the vaccine doesn’t protect them. Are they angry that they got vaccinated?”, public.

Due to his stance, Australia has already made it known that if he wants to compete in the surfing events in that country, he will have to get vaccinated. The date 2 and 3 in April and May will be on ocean beaches and Kelly would miss them due to his position against vaccines.

But Kelly is not the only challenge. Kanoa Igarashi is a friend of Lucca, they trained a few days together in Hawaii last year and have been facing each other since Junior. “He is very experienced, I have known him since we have faced each other in the Pro Junior. It will be very difficult”, assures the Peruvian. The Japanese surfer has been on the World Tour for several years and closed 2021 in 8th place in the ranking.

These days, Lucca has been testing each of the 13 boards that her sponsor Timmy Patterson has left for her to tackle Pipeline. In addition, it is improving the reading of waves with which it is going to face.

Competence

They will be two Peruvians in action at Pipeline. Lucca will be joined by Miguel Tudela, who thanks to Billabong achieved a Wild Card to be part of the event, so the day in Hawaii will be historic, part of the “sports justice”, mentioned by Pablo Zanocchi in favor of national surfing. Last year Miguel could be thanks to his classification via a series of tournaments, but an injury did not allow him to compete.

“Miguel has shown that he is good at Pipeline. It is incredible for him and for me too, because there are already two Peruvians, there is Peruvian representation and the important thing is that, the goal is to advance”, Lucca tells us.

But it won’t be easy for Miguel either. In the first round heat he will have to face none other than the Brazilian Gabriel Medina, the current WSL world champion (he has three in total), and the American Jake Marshall, a 23-year-old surfer who will compete for the first time in the CT.

Meanwhile, Zanocchi gives Peruvians good vibes. “Everything is at stake on the field and in surfing, perhaps more than in other sports, surprises happen. Miguel Tudela is a Pipeline specialist and can beat anyone. Lucca is not a specialist in Pipeline, but he is raised in waves to the left, like the north of Peru. He has experience in that sea, he is an excellent competitor and he can make life difficult for anyone”, tells us.

Thus, Peruvian surfing will have a historic day at Pipeline from January 29. The Hawaiian waves will enjoy the Peruvian talent and there will be an entire country cheering from afar.