France’s Kauli Vaast won the Olympic gold medal in the men’s surfing event ahead of Australia’s Jack Robinson, while the United States’ Caroline Marks held out in a thrilling final in the women’s surfing event at the Paris 2024 event, held in Tahiti.
Local hero Vaast surfed a near-perfect heat to claim gold in Teahupo’o, demoting tube-riding maestro Robinson to silver. The 22-year-old Vaast, who grew up in Teahupo’o and has caught some of the best waves of all time on the perfect reef pass, quickly established dominance in the final and never relinquished it, sparking celebrations on spectator boats in the channel and in a small fan zone.
Robinson looked the man to beat after knocking out Brazilian Gabriel Medina and American John John Florence in earlier rounds. However, the West Australian, who uses meditative breathing techniques and named his first son Zen, could not turn down the second round and had to settle for silver.
Medina and Johanne Defay of France won the bronze medals, after beating Alonso Correa of Peru and Brisa Hennessy of Costa Rica respectively.
“The dream came true. I can’t believe it now, but I just made history – for me, for all Tahitians, for Polynesia and France,” Vaast said, adding that he lost his voice as he shouted back at local fans while doing a victory lap on a jet ski. “A lot of people surf and it’s part of our culture… I’m proud to say that surfing was born in Polynesia, so it means a lot to me.”
As Vaast accepted his gold medal, a rooster – a symbol of France – ran around the presentation area and a Polynesian conch shell was blown.
After Teahupo’o had arguably delivered the best day of Olympic surfing competition last week, the waves on the morning of finals day were not up to expectations, with choppy waves and tricky winds. But conditions improved as the day progressed, and the men’s finals were held in clean, overhead barrels at “The End of the Road,” as Teahupo’o is known.
Vaast drew first blood in the final, scoring 9.5 out of 10 after pumping through a long, deep tube. Robinson followed with a slightly smaller version, but came out after the wave spewed an explosion of water and air into the channel, scoring 7.83.
The French Polynesian surfer quickly returned to a solid score, an 8.17 for a series of blistering turns for a total of 17.67, putting the Australian on a near-perfect run. But the waves of significance never came, and both surfers were left bobbing as the clock ticked away.
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The battle for the women’s gold ended with reigning World Surf League champion Marks narrowly beating Brazil’s Tatiana Weston-Webb, who took the silver medal.
Waves were also rare for the women’s final, with a flurry at the end nearly giving Weston-Webb enough to snatch victory from Marks. However, the Brazilian came up just short, finishing with a two-wave total of 10.33 to Marks’ 10.50.
Earlier, the women’s semifinals were filled with drama as Marks and Defay finished with their two-wave totals tied, the American squeaking through thanks to the highest scoring singles wave. In the second semifinal, Brisa Hennessy suffered a brainfade and fell to Weston-Webb without priority, earning a penalty that cost the Costa Rican all the points from her second scoring wave.