TEAHUPO’O, Tahiti — A strong U.S. team set the standard as Olympic surfing got underway in the beautiful and sometimes brutal waves of Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Saturday, with reigning world champion Caroline Marks charging to the highest heat score of the day.
Vahine Fierro was another standout in the clean and overhead barrels, perfect conditions for the Tahitian local surfing her first Olympic heat at her home break.
“I woke up with butterflies in my stomach, of excitement and also a little bit nervous,” said Fierro. “But once I touched the water, I felt really comfortable out there.
“I was able to pick the right boards, the right waves and I’m really happy with my performance.”
Fierro’s win in her heat was a popular one among the limited number of boats watching from the channel and the smattering of spectators able to negotiate numerous checkpoints on the way to “The End of the Road” at Teahupo’o.
In the final heat of the day, Carissa Moore, who won gold for the U.S. at Tokyo, caught two bombs in the final five minutes including a nine-point ride in a 16.5 heat total.
But the women’s performance of the day belonged to Marks, who scored a near perfect 9.43 and backed it up with an 8.5 for being spat out of two deep, long tubes.
China’s first Olympic surfer, 15-year-old Yang Siqi, earned respect for sending it in training surfs and in her heat, but took some heavy wipeouts and lost to Spain’s Nadia Erostarbe.
France’s Johanne Defay also took some beatings, coming up bleeding from a scrape to the head before donning a helmet as she went down to Costa Rica’s Brisa Hennessy.
Winners from the first round head directly to round three, while the losers face sudden death in Sunday’s second round.
In the men’s heats, Marks’ compatriot John John Florence delivered a two-wave total of 17.33 out of 20, while team mate Griffin Colapinto scored a 9.53 of his own on his way to a 17.03 total.
“Yeah, the waves were fun,” Florence said. “There’s a lot of opportunity so you can kind of just keep surfing. That’s my favourite type of surfing in a heat.”
Australia’s Jack Robinson was among those relegated to the second round, along with Brazil’s Tatiana Weston-Webb and Japan’s Kanoa Igarashi, a silver medallist at Tokyo.
Poor conditions expected next week are likely to delay competition but only four days are required to complete the action, which can run until Aug. 5.
South African Matthew McGillivray will be hoping he can get past dangerous local Kauli Vaast in Sunday’s second round.
“There’s a big swell at the back end of the forecast now that everyone is looking at so we’re just hoping that materializes, because would be awesome to see, like, proper Chopes, where it’s a bit heavy and there’s some consequence involved,” McGillivray said, using a nickname for Teahupo’o.
McGillivray, a BASE jumper in his spare time, scored a perfect 10 on a solid Tahitian tube in 2022 and is relishing the prospect of some heavier water.
“Yeah, I like being outside my comfort zone and in scary surf. So if it gets bigger it’s definitely going to suit me more.”