(Teahupo’o) Tahitian Kauli Vaast won the first French Olympic surfing title and the first gold medal in Tahitian sport on Monday in Teahupo’o, beating Australian Jack Robinson in style in the final.
Living very close to the spot and carried by the fervour of all of Polynesia, the 22-year-old surfer took the two best waves of a very high-level final to win just a few dozen minutes after the bronze won by Reunion Island’s Johanne Defay.
Tahitian surfing prodigy Kauli Vaast took the lead in the series from his first wave, scored 950, to finally obtain a total of 1767, against the 783 of Jack Robinson, who resigned himself in the final moments.
Resident for several years of the 2e In the world’s top surfing division, the Challenger Series, Kauli Vaast has often been able to beat the best surfers on the elite circuit on this spot, such as in 2022 when he reached the final of the Tahiti Pro invitational.
PHOTO BEN THOUARD, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tahitian surfing prodigy Kauli Vaast took the lead in the series from his first wave, scored 950, to finally obtain a total of 1767, against the 783 of Jack Robinson, who resigned himself in the final moments.
He grew up in Mahina, in the north of Tahiti, before settling with his two windsurfing parents facing the peninsula’s wave, made famous throughout the world in the early 2000s.
His victory quickly sparked demonstrations of joy all over Tahiti. His mother, however, did not want to see her son surf: “When he competes in Tahiti I do the gardening,” said Natou Vaast, relying on the shouts of the neighbors to know the results.
Kauli Vaast eliminated his friend and teammate Joan Duru in the quarter-finals, then Peruvian Alonso Correa in the semi-finals. He succeeds Brazilian Italo Ferreira as Olympic surfing champion, who won the title in 2021 in Tokyo for the sport’s first appearance.
Three-time world champion Gabriel Medina takes bronze
Surfing magician Gabriel Medina, a three-time world champion, won the bronze medal despite being the big favourite.
Beaten in the semi-final by the Australian Jack Robinson after taking only one wave during his series, the Brazilian (1554 points) was more creative during the match for bronze against the surprise of the men’s draw, the Peruvian Alonso Correa (1243).
In rather modest conditions for the “Jaw of Hava’e”, the two men took beautiful waves throughout the series in a tight duel, but the Brazilian chose his rollers a little better in the last 20 minutes.
PHOTO ED SLOANE, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Brazilian Gabriel Medina
In surfing’s first appearance at the Olympics in Tokyo, Medina finished just off the podium after a defeat to Australian Owen Wright. A three-time world champion, the Brazilian is considered one of the greatest surfers of all time.
A photo of this close friend of footballer Neymar, who has 14 million followers on Instagram, taken by an AFP photographer a week ago on the Tahitian spot, was one of the most striking images of the Paris Games.
In the photo, we can admire the Brazilian surfer in a three-quarter face view rising above the waves, pointing his index finger towards the sky, with his surfboard vertically behind his back.