Merewether Surfboard Club's Morgan Cibilic has qualified for the first world title finals despite losing his round of 16 heat at the championship tour event in Mexico on Friday.
Cibilic went down 14.0 to 12.0 to Italian Leonardo Fioravanti at Barra de la Cruz in Oaxaca on a chaotic day for the tour.
The final event at Teahupo'o in Tahiti was cancelled because of COVID, making the Mexico contest the final chance to secure a top-five spot and place at the world title finals at Lower Trestles in California next month.
Cibilic started the contest in fourth spot and he collected 3320 points for his round of 16 exit. He rose to 26,600, with his lowest result dropped, leaving him fifth after American Connor Coffin jumped to fourth with a quarter-final finish. Coffin went from eighth and 21,940 points to 26,685.
Frederico Morais, who was on 17,375 before the event, had the chance to knock Cibilic out of the top five with a contest win (10,000 points) but he bowed out in the quarter-finals to Australian Jack Robinson.
The top-five finals is a new concept this year to decide the men's and women's world champions.
Cibilic's rise to the decider caps a remarkable first season on tour for the 21-year-old, who narrowly earned his spot on the CT with an amazing run on the 2019 qualifying series. He went from 111th on the QS at the end of 2018 to to 11th in 2019.
His performances this season made him clearly the rookie of the year winner. Cibilic made the final of the Rottnest Island contest and was a semi-finalist at the Newcastle Cup on his home break of Merewether. He was also a quarter-finalist at Narrabeen and a last 16 finisher at the past two events.
Brazilians Gabriel Medina, Italo Ferreira and Filipe Toledo had already secured their spots in the top five.
Meanwhile, Australia's Sally Fitzgibbons will chase an elusive world title after securing her spot in next month's finals.
Fitzgibbons, who has finished runner-up three times in the world championship, celebrated her passage into the finals by reaching the semi-finals on Thursday.
The 30-year-old made the last four by defeating America's Courtney Conlogue. Fitzgibbons waited until halfway through the 35-minute heat to catch a wave but picked the conditions perfectly, scoring a 7.17 and an 8 (15.17 total).
Conlogue could only manage 11.77 in response. Fitzgibbons faces Hawaiian Malia Manuel in the semis.
"I've worked really hard on trying to grow and evolve my game because looking at that vibe, it's super hard to make that cut," she said.
"That's just the first step and then it's just getting that opportunity to go to Lowers and really let my surfing free.
"Hopefully do that really high-risk surfing because I guess the whole season's been a warm up for there."
Manuel defeated France's Johanne Defay in the day's opening quarter-final. Despite her loss, Defay is also locked in for the world title finals.
World No.1 Carissa Moore continued her dominant form, scoring a near-perfect 9.80 in her quarter-final victory over Australian tour rookie Isabella Nichols.
Seven-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore has also secured a top-five spot and will face Moore in the semi-finals in Mexico after defeating Tatiana Weston-Webb in the last quarter-final on Thursday.
In the men's, Robinson broke through to his first semi-final on tour. The 23-year-old West Australian will face Brazilian wildcard Mateus Herdy for a spot in the decider. Robinson won his round of 16 heat against Indonesia's Rio Waida then posted a two-wave score of 14.06 in the quarter-finals to advance past Morais (12.60).
Herdy came from behind against compatriot and defending world champion Ferreira in a shock result.
The other semi-final features Deivid Silva, who upset world No.1 Medina in the first quarter-final. Silva scored an 8.67 and a 6.67 with his two last waves to shock the two-time world champion and set up a showdown with Fioravanti in the semis.
