Vaast claims Olympic surfing gold on home wave

Kauli Vaast first surfed the legendary Teahupo'o wave when he was eight years old

American Caroline Marks and Kauli Vaast of France won the Olympic surfing titles.

Marks, 22, narrowly missed out on bronze at Tokyo 2020 but clinched the women's title in Tahiti.

The surfing competition was held 9,800 miles from host city Paris, in waters off the French Polynesian island where Vaast was born and bred.

It was chosen for its legendary Teahupo'o wave, which Vaast, also 22, first surfed when he was eight years old.

He made a fine start to the final with a near-perfect 9.5 ride, before Australia's Jack Robinson replied with a 7.83.

Vaast's next wave gave him a total of 17.67 and Robinson was unable to register another ride as Vaast became the first Olympic champion from Tahiti.

"I was a bit lucky as we only had a chance to surf three waves, then the ocean went flat," Vaast said.

He felt there was a spiritual energy, specific to the region, driving him to the gold medal.

"We have a good relationship [with the surf]. We call it the 'mana', and in this contest I felt it the whole time," Vaast said.

"I'm proud to say that surfing was born in Polynesia, and this means a lot for me. The dream came true. I hope this will be a source of inspiration to the youth of Tahiti."

Vaast had beaten Peru's Alonso Correa in the semi-finals, while Robinson overcame Brazil's Gabriel Medina.

A stunning image of Medina celebrating an Olympic record 9.9 wave earlier in the competition went viral last week and the Brazilian (15.54) beat Correa (12.43) to clinch the bronze medal.

Marks (10.50) secured a narrow victory over Brazil's Tatiana Weston-Webb (10.33) in the women's final.

Johanne Defay, who hails from the mountainous region of Auvergne, earned another surfing medal for hosts France by beating Costa Rica's Brisa Hennessy by 12.66 to 4.93 for bronze.

Marks was the youngest surfer to qualify for the inaugural Olympic competition at Tokyo 2020

Marks learned to surf in her native Florida and was the 2023 women's champion of the World Surf League

Vaast now aims to earn a spot in the World Surf League alongside the other Olympic medallists