Men’s Event
In the heats John John Florence (United States) shows his liking for the Tahiti waves with the biggest score. In round two, the eliminations began with standout names Leonardo Fioravanti (Italy) and Rio Waida (Indonesia) losing out. In round three Reo Inaba (Japan) beat Filipe Toledo (Brazil). Florence lost to Jack Robinson (Australia) whilst Gabriel Medina (Brazil) scored a brilliant 9.9 surf to set up a clash with Joao Chianca (Brazil) who scored 18.1 overall. Alonso Correa (Peru), Kauli Vaast (France), Medina and Robinson would make the semi finals. In low scoring semi-finals it was Vaast and Robinson who would qualify. In the final, Vaast would go big early, scoring a 9.5. He would follow it up with a 8.17 and with the waves dying down, was able to hold on for a monumental gold.
🥇Kauli Vaast 🇫🇷
🥈Jack Robinson 🇦🇺
🥉Gabriel Medina 🇧🇷
I was along the right lines here. Vaast was someone I referenced as having a better chance because the surfing was here but ultimately didn’t go for.
Women’s Event
Caroline Marks (United States) gave noticed straight away with a score of 17.93 in the heats. In the elimination round, Molly Picklum (Australia) was one of those eliminated. The quarter finals were low scoring with Johanne Defay (France) the only surfer going over 10. She was joined by Marks, Tatiana Weston-Webb (Brazil) and Brisa Hennessy (Costa Rica) in the semi finals. The first semi final was incredibly tense. Defay would get the early lead but Marks would soon go back into the lead. Defay would equal the scores up but it was Marks who would go through with the biggest wave. A penalty would dent the hopes of Hennessy in the other semi as she was penalised for priority interference. In the final, Marks would get out early with a big score and Weston-Webb was never able to get back on terms.
🥇Caroline Marks 🇺🇸
🥈Tatiana Weston-Webb 🇧🇷
🥉Johanne Defay 🇫🇷
This time, I gave it to the Tahiti specialist and she went out to Defay. Marks’ results this season put me off as she had not really been to enough finals, although I mentioned her and Weston-Webb as serious medal contenders.
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