Shortboard, Men

Heading into the men’s competition, a lot of focus was on Brazil’s Gabriel Medina. The three time World champion had finished just outside the medals at Tokyo and had a good history competing in Tahiti, having the best overall record at Teahupo’o. John John Florence of the USA, World champion in 2016 and 2017, but plagued by injuries since, came into the Olympics surfing at a very high level, with a huge lead in the current men’s standings of the World Surf League tour. A couple of others on the medal radar were France’s Kauli Vaast, who grew up just down the road from Teahupo’o and had previous success at Tahiti-based events, and Jack Robinson of Australia, a former winner at the Tahiti World Surf League stop and considered one of the best barrel riders in the world. Finally, Japan’s Kanoa Igarashi could not be discounted, given his Tokyo silver performance.

Once competition commenced, Vaast and Robinson quickly put themselves behind the eight ball by losing in the first round. Given new life in round two, though, they began to move up through the field to find themselves ultimately in the gold medal showdown. In getting there, Jack Robinson took a very tough route, defeating John John Florence, fellow Australian Ethan Ewing, and finally Gabriel Medina, the latter who had accomplished almost a perfect 10, coming in at a 9.90, in a round three surf ride. On his way to the gold medal matchup, Kauli Vasst dispatched the American Griffin Colapinto in round three, Colapinto having authored Vaast’s only defeat, in the first round, followed that by victories over teammate Joan Duru, and Peru’s Alonso Correa. Before the gold medal event, Gabriel Medina erased the memory of his bronze medal match loss in Tokyo, with a victory over Alonso Correa. In the gold medal event, the hometown favorite Kauli Vaast dominated, his first wave scoring a 9.50, basically sealing the gold, with Australia’s Jack Robinson settling for the silver.