Today, Teahupo’o delivered a tense day of competition for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
As the ocean recovered from a two-day storm, a four-to-five foot swell with shifting conditions challenged the world’s best surfers, who nonetheless delivered impressive performances in drama-filled heats. Women’s Round 3 was held in full, before men’s and women’s Quarterfinals were completed.
Round 3 standouts Tatiana Weston-Webb (BRA) and Brisa Hennessy (CRC) rounded out the day by progressing through tight Quarterfinals, along with 2016 ISA U/16 World Junior Champion and 2023 WSL World Champion Caroline Marks (USA).
Photo: ISA
Hennessy, the two-time ISA World Junior Gold Medalist, pushed through a tricky barrel to earn a 7.67, the highest single wave score of the day for the women. The 24-year-old also matched Weston-Webb, a fellow two-time ISA World Junior Gold Medalist, with the highest heat total of 12.34.
The trio of World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour (CT) surfers will be joined by another veteran of the Tour, Johanne Defay (FRA), who had a more convincing win over Tokyo 2020 Gold Medalist Carissa Moore (USA).
Kauli Vaast (FRA) and Jack Robinson (AUS) topped numbers for the men, also with identical heat totals of 15.33. Both surfer’s numbers were made up of 8.00 and 7.33 single wave scores.
With the Semifinals set, all new medalists are guaranteed. Six of the eight remaining in the draw represent different nations, with Defay and Vaast in contention to keep medal hopes alive in both divisions for the host nation of France.
France’s Defay rises to the occasion against tough competition
Photo: ISA
Drawing one of the most difficult paths through the event, Johanne Defay (FRA) has continued to rise to the occasion. Since knocking her head on the reef on her very first wave of the event, Defay has taken down three of the toughest competitors in rising star Molly Picklum (AUS), ‘Queen of Teahupo’o’ Vahine Fierro (FRA), and Tokyo 2020 Gold Medalist Carissa Moore (USA).
Though she hasn’t found success at Teahupo’o in WSL CT events, the 30-year-old has excelled in left-hand reef-breaks throughout her career, largely thanks to growing up in the French Territory of Reunion Island. Defay adapted to the conditions across her Round 3 and Quarterfinal appearances today, surfing smart heats that now see her in the Semifinals, potentially one heat away from an Olympic medal.
“I think today I gained a lot of confidence,” Defay said. “I think I’m also more relaxed. The beginnings of contests are always more tricky. The more you go, the more you get your rhythm, so go with the flow, stick to your game plan.”
Defay, a three-time ISA World Surfing Games (WSG) Medalist, had nothing but praise for Fierro, her teammate who was considered by many to be the frontrunner for the Gold Medal.
“You can see Vahine [Fierro] is the best out there,” Defay said. “I think experience in competition maybe helped me at this stage. I’m happy to make it. A big hug for Vahine.”
An emotional end to competition for Tokyo 2020 Gold Medalist Moore
Photo: ISA
As the returning Olympic Gold Medalist, five-time WSL World Champion Carissa Moore (USA) had high expectations for herself. Having stated at the beginning of the year that Paris 2024 would mark the end of her competitive career for now, the 31-year-old was emotional as she processed her Quarterfinal loss to Defay.
“It’s very raw,” Moore said. “You put everything you have into something. I put my whole year…I took a chance, I left the Tour, I came here and spent months out of the year just trying to do my very best. When you come up short of a dream it sucks, but at the same point, how fun was it? I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I would’ve been so bummed if I looked back and been like, ‘Oh, I only did that half-heartedly.’ I went all in.”
“I just hope that at the end of the day I can encourage whoever is watching, win or lose, don’t be afraid to go into it fearlessly and don’t be afraid to fail,” Moore continued. “The process has been so much fun. Obviously I’m really sad to not be a part of finals day, to get to represent my home and my family one more time, but I’m really grateful. I couldn’t have imagined a better place to finish off my career. I want to express my gratitude to everybody who’s been there for me and supported me, not only in this event, but my whole life. It’s just nice to have a community behind you, so thanks.”
Evenly matched men’s Quarterfinals highlighted by Vaast and Robinson’s identical heat totals
The men’s Quarterfinal draw was already evenly matched before Kauli Vaast (FRA) and Jack Robinson (AUS) set it in stone with their equal heat totals. The matches were also even in terms of qualification, with qualifiers from the ISA World Surfing Games making up the top half of the draw and WSL CT qualifiers filling the bottom half.
Additionally, three of the men’s Quarterfinals included teammates matching head-to-head. France, Brazil and Australia all had friendly fire with France’s Vaast and Joan Duru, Brazil’s Gabriel Medina and João Chianca and Australia’s Robinson and Ethan Ewing facing each other. Each team has been staying together and training closely, making for fascinating dynamics across all three heats.
The battle of the French teammates was highly active, with the two 2024 ISA WSG Medalists pushing each other across multiple exchanges. Vaast, the 22-year-old local Tahitian, stayed the most busy, building on nearly every wave surfed. It was an emotional victory for Vaast, who now carries the Gold Medal hopes of both his home of Tahiti and his nation of France.
“I was stressing a bit because he’s one of the best tube-riders,” Vaast said. “He’s like my big brother. We did so many training sessions out there. I know how he surfs, he knows how I surf. It was a great heat for me, a great inspiration because he knows and I know we gave it all in the heat, one hundred percent, two hundred percent. A lot of emotion after this one, but I'm happy I made it, stoked.”
Duru, the 2021 ISA WSG Gold Medalist, bows out of the event holding the highest heat total in Surfing’s Olympic history so far, which he earned in Round 3 (18.13). He had previously announced he would retire from competitive surfing after Paris 2024, but couched his response after his exit. The 35-year-old stated he will “see in the next couple days.”
2024 ISA WSG Gold Medalist and three-time WSL World Champion Gabriel Medina took a strong victory over João Chianca, posting a 14.77 heat total to Chianca’s 9.33. The Quarterfinal finish from Chianca was an incredible return to form after suffering a severe head injury towards the end of 2023.
Robinson defeated 2023 WSL World Title runner-up Ethan Ewing by surfing a smart heat that built as he went, though Ewing had the high point of the match-up, and the day, with an 8.33 single wave score.
Though the two surfers in the first men’s Quarterfinal represent different nations, Peru’s Alonso Correa and Japan’s Reo Inaba have had remarkably similar career trajectories. Both debuted on the international stage in the ISA World Junior Surfing Championships at the age of 14 and both went on to win ISA World Junior medals, before progressing through professional careers whose statistics are almost carbon copies of each other.
Despite Inaba finding the best of the heat, a 7.33 for an impressively navigated barrel, it was Correa who progressed to the Semifinals, just 0.34 ahead of the 27-year-old Japanese.
“It’s super exciting,” Correa said. “I’m happy. I’m proud of myself and proud to make all the people back home…giving them hope that this is possible.”
The next call to determine when competition will run will take place on August 2 at 5:45 p.m. TAHT.
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