France’s Tahitian local Kauli Vaast surfed a near perfect heat to claim gold in the men’s event at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday (August 5), relegating Australian tube-riding maestro Jack Robinson to silver.
The 22-year-old Vaast, who grew up in Teahupo’o and has caught some of the best waves of all-time at the perfect reef pass, quickly established dominance and never gave it up, sparking celebrations on spectator boats in the channel and in a small fan zone.
Vaast, sporting a mullet/mohawk haircut courtesy of his younger brother, drew first blood, scoring a 9.5 out of 10 after pumping through a long, deep tube.
Robinson followed with a slightly smaller version, but came out after the wave spit a blast of water and air into the channel to score a 7.83.
Vaast quickly got another excellent score, an 8.17 for some searing turns to total 17.67 and leaving the Australian chasing a near perfect score.
On the women’s side, Caroline Marks of the United States won the surfing gold medal with Brazil’s Tatiana Weston-Webb earning silver and Johanne Defay of France bronze.
In the gold medal heat Marks two best rides combined for a score of 10.50 to edge past Weston-Webb’s 10.33.
