Merewether surfer Ryan Callinan says he will "shoot for the moon" on the 2021 championship tour (CT) after showing glimpses of his world title potential before COVID-19 wiped out this year's series.
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Callinan starts his 2021 campaign this week in Hawaii at the Pipe Masters, which has switched from the final event on tour to the first in the revamped schedule.
The 28-year-old faces Michel Bourez and West Australian CT rookie Jack Robinson in round one at the Pipe Masters, which is likely to have trials as well as a surf-off between Mikey Wright and Leonardo Fioravanti for the tour's injury wildcard on Wednesday (AEDT) when the event window opens.
The main draw action could begin on Thursday and Callinan was excited to get a new campaign under way.
In 2019, his second full year on the CT, Callinan was ranked seventh after the Australian leg, thanks to a semi-final appearance at Bells Beach and quarter-final at Margaret River. However, he slipped back through the season to finish 14th.
He started that year aiming for a top-10 finish after a stunning 2018 campaign rocketed him back onto the world stage.
This time around, Callinan is setting his sights even higher.
"I'll try to bump it up," Callinan said of his goal for 2021. "I'd love to get top five this year. I feel like I maybe slacked off a bit towards the end of the year and I'm trying to correct that for this time.
"I feel like my surfing is good enough to be in the top five or even challenging for the world title, so that's kind of where I'm aiming but we'll see where that takes me.
"But that's my goal - shoot for the moon, maybe land in the stars."
Callinan has had just one World Surf League competition - an early exit at the Tweed Heads Pro in September - since events were abandoned during the coronavirus pandemic. Before the break, Callinan was runner-up at home at Surfest and a quarter-finalist at the Sydney Surf Pro on the qualifying series.
The goofy-footer has been using his time away from competition well.
"My surfing hours have probably gone through the roof, to be honest," he said.
"I've been flat-out, but competing is a whole different ball-game. Even though I didn't do very well in that comp at Cabarita, it was nice to get the jersey back on and have that feeling again and go, 'yeah this is what it's about'."
Callinan has battled knee problems in recent years but he said the extended break from competition had been a blessing.
"My whole body feels great," he said.
"There was obviously a risk of injury because there were no comps, so you could go as hard as you want in your surfing, but I'm lucky not to have any extras and I feel as fit as ever and ready to go.
"It's been the longest time I've had consistently to be able to train non-stop, so it's only a positive for me."
The Pipe Masters will be the CT debut for Callinan's Merewether clubmate Morgan Cibilic, who earned a massive rise up the QS rankings in 2019 to make the tour. Cibilic faces Japan's Kanoa Igarashi and Brazilian Peterson Crisanto in round one.
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IN THE NEWS
Craig Kerry
Craig Kerry is a sports reporter for the Newcastle Herald.
Craig Kerry is a sports reporter for the Newcastle Herald.
