Situation Room: Women's QS Shakeup

Following completion of the Paul Mitchell Super Girl Pro in Oceanside last weekend, where Sage Erickson (USA) won her second Supergirl title, the women have finished five of their seven 6-Star Qualification Series (QS) events. With the rankings based on the best five events, there are now solid scores to discuss.

Lima's Semifinals finish in Oceanside cements her No. 1 spot on the QS. - WSL / Kurt Steinmetz

Silvana Lima (BRA) still leads the pack with Sage close behind and both should have enough points already to qualify for the 2015 World Championship Tour (WCT). Alessa Quizon (HAW), sitting in third, has only competed in four events. Adding one more event with average results she would be sitting in second place on the QS, so she also looks solid to make the cut. Apart from these two, the rest could end up anywhere.

Laura Enever (AUS) is No. 4 on the QS and No. 9 on the WCT, and she needs a good result or two on either tour. Malia Manuel (HAW) is sitting pretty on the WCT at fifth place, with three events for a No. 5 QS ranking. Tatiana Weston-Webb (HAW) needs some good QS results to solidify her spot on the QS Top 6. She has a second and a third but no backups so she needs some good points.

Nikki Van Dijk (AUS) is currently sitting in the 10th spot on the WCT -- which is the bubble for the women -- and seventh on the QS. But she only has two QS finishes worth keeping, so she needs to do something to solidify her position on either tour. Dimity Stoyle is only 20 points behind Van Dijk. Sitting at No. 8 on the WCT she's in a better spot than her fellow Aussie, but also has just two good results under her belt.

Coco Ho has surfed only two QS events this year, but made them count with a win and a third-place so far. - WSL / Kurt Steinmetz

Coco Ho is sitting equal 10th on the WCT and ninth on the QS with only two QS results. Both of those results, however, are good so she will jump dramatically even without a great finish.

So looking at the current rankings the Top 6 QS qualifiers look to be Lima, Erickson, Quizon, Enever, Weston-Webb, and Ho. If Ho, Van Dijk, and Enever can hold their top 10 WCT spots then Nage Melamed (HAW) and Keely Andrew (AUS) look like they'd be making the cutoff. Cutoff points for this season will be around 7500.

With the Hossegor and Pantin events coming up back-to-back, it will be a tight race and the 5-Star event in Florianopolis in October could end up being a major factor in determining in the final 6 QS places.

If the season ended today, the current ASP Top 17 would be as follows.
Note: There is currently a three-way tie for 10th on the WCT. The tiebreaker is decided by whomever holds the highest rank on the QS.

1 - Carissa Moore (HAW)
2 - Sally Fitzgibbions (AUS)
3 - Tyler Wright (AUS)
4 - Stephanie Gilmore (AUS)
5 - Malia Manuel (HAW)
6 - Lakey Peterson (USA)
7 - Bianca Buitendag (ZAF)
8 - Dimity Stoyle (AUS)
9 - Laura Enever (AUS)
10 - Nikki Van Dijk (AUS)

Additions to 2015 roster are speculative: 11 - Silvana Lima (BRA)
12 - Sage Erickson (USA)
13 - Alessa Quizon (HAW)
14 - Tatiana Weston-Webb (HAW)
15 - Coco Ho (HAW)
16 - Nage Melamed (HAW)
17 - Wildcard

Women's WCT - Current list
Women's QS - Current List