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On a calm day with big waves at the Teahupo’o surf spot in Tahiti, American Caroline Marks defeated Brazil’s Tatiana Weston-Webb in the final of the Olympic women’s surfing.
The drama of the race continued well after the clock ran out, as the athletes awaited the verdict on Weston-Webb’s decisive final run. Her score was not enough to overtake Marks.
In the finals, competitors had 35 minutes to set two high scores, judged by a panel of 10 international judges. The highest and lowest scores for each ride were discarded. The surfers’ highest two scores on a scale of 0-10 were combined for the final score.
Slow start leads to hectic ending
Because sets were scarce in the final, neither surfer attempted to catch a wave until the 24th minute of the match. Furthermore, neither achieved a score higher than 0.5.
Marks earned the first significant score of the final with a successful barrel ride with 17 minutes remaining, putting pressure on Weston-Webb to score. The ride was given a 7.5 by the judges and ultimately proved to be the difference between the two and the gold medal.
Weston-Webb countered with a 5.83 on a ride with nine minutes to go. Less than two minutes later, Marks recorded her second successful ride of the final. She didn’t catch a barrel, but replaced a secondary score of 1.43 with a 3.0 to take a 10.5-7.63 lead.
With two minutes to go, Weston-Webb had her second successful ride, but she didn’t catch a barrel. Time was running out and surfers waited for the judges to decide on Weston-Webb’s second ride. She needed a 4.68 to win. The ride was good for a 4.5, giving Marks a 10.5-10.33 victory and the gold medal.
Marks, 22, won the gold medal after finishing just off the podium in fourth place in Tokyo. On land, she celebrated the victory with her supporters.
Marks to final thanks to tiebreaker
Marks reached the final by beating Johanne Defay of France in the semi-final earlier on Monday. Both surfers had scores of 12.17 in their heats, but Marks won with a higher score of 7.00 on her best surf. Defay scored a 6.50 on her first wave and a 5.67 on her second (bettering Marks’ 5.17). However, the highest score on a single wave is the tiebreaker.
Weston-Webb defeated Costa’s Brisa Hennessy in the other semi-final. Defay won the bronze medal with a decisive score of 12.66, easily beating Costa Rica’s Brisa Hennessy’s score of 4.93.
In the men’s final, local Tahitian Kauli Vaast won gold for France at his local surf spot, against Australian Jack Robinson. Brazilian Gabriel Medina won bronze.
This is the second consecutive medal for the U.S. in surfing, which became an Olympic sport at the Tokyo Games. Carissa Moore won gold for Team USA in the inaugural competition. Moore lost to Defay in the quarterfinals at the Paris Olympics.
