Day 2 of surfing's Tahitian debut at the Paris 2024 Games both under and overdelivered, with slow moments marked by flurries of thoroughly entertaining exchanges, and interesting match ups, as the first surfers were sent home from Tahiti, completing both Men's and Women's Elimination Rounds.
If you weren't able to find a stream through the myriad channels broadcasting the action around the world, here's a look at what went down.
Women's Elimination Round:
China's 15 year-old phenom, Siqi Yang has won the hearts of fans with her bravery in the face of danger and competition. - ISA / Pablo Franco
Women's Elimination Round Heat 1: China's Siqi Yang vs Peru's Sol Aguirre
Fifteen-year-old Siqi Yang pretty much stole everyone's hearts yesterday. Her fearlessness. Her total and complete commitment. Her seemingly unbreakable spirit. It's worth mentioning that Yang is one of the only, if not the only surfer who didn't get to do any Teahupo'o training camps prior to the Olympics. Yang showed up ten days ago, sight unseen, and just gave it everything she had-in a situation of such magnitude and high pressure that most surfers would have dropped anchor, and enjoyed the show, hopped on the next flight back home.
Yang and Peru's Sol Aguirre opened up the Women's Elimination Round, deciding the first Olympic surfers sent home. The heat was scrappy, with Yang going to turns for her 4.5 and 3, while Aguirre put in a solid effort trying to match her approach but came up short. Yang shut the heat down with another round of backside hangers for a 4.17.
Sarah Baum standing tall and sending South Africa to Round 3. - ISA / Tim Mckenna
WER Heat 2: South Africa's Sarah Baum vs Germany's Camilla Kemp
With the wind swirling side to side-offshore, Camilla Kemp got sent packing back to Germany by South African Sarah Baum, who navigated a few clean exits from the thin-lipped, diminished Teahupo'o pits on offer, though her best wave was a victory lap and came in just a few seconds after the hooter sounded.
"I'm really just trying to think of it as another event and not, not quite like the Olympics," Baum told the WSL's Chloe Kojima after her heat win. "I feel like there's a lot of expectation that I put on myself, so I really just wanna, like, do myself proud. You know, back myself completely. Sometimes we doubt ourselves, we doubt the experience that we have out there. I'm just trying to take it one heat at a time, one wave at a time, I'm constantly learning and yeah, I really just want to do my best."
"I've been on tour for a fair few months now, so I'm kind of just keeping the ball rolling. I had a really good event win at J-Bay. So just trying to create that momentum going into each event, doing what I'm doing, sticking to my routine. That's what I'm happy with and that's what I feel most comfortable about."
"Out here, you've got to back yourself 100 percent and that's what I'm trying to do," added Baum. "It's a wave of consequence, but today you had to be flexible too. I know that from yesterday, the one wave that I caught, I felt like it was a pretty good wave. But looking back in the replays, sometimes it doesn't look as deep as it feels. So getting that barrel today, I just really wanted to milk as much as I could out of the wave, with a cutback at the end. It might have just gotten me an extra 0.5 point! So yeah, just trying to do my best and push as much as I can."
Shino Masuda steep and deep lives to see another day of competion with the big win against Teresa Bonvalot - ISA / Tim Mckenna
WER Heat 3: Japan's Shino Matsuda vs Portugal's Teresa Bonvalot
While it looked like the Portuguese goofyfoot was going to command the heat until the horn, Shino Matsuda took the wind out of Teresa Bonvalot's sails with one of the most perfect cylinders of the am, navigating it casually for a 7.67 and the highest score of the morning up to that point. Bonvalot heads back to Portugal, while Matsuda is heading to the Round of 16.
"It's amazing to be here with amazing coaches," said Matsuda, after taking the win with the help of Jake 'The Snake' Patterson. "Jake has been the channel and shares his knowledge for the team, and gives me a lot of confidence. It's amazing to be here, because I missed Tokyo and I was pretty disappointed, but now I'm here and competing in the Olympics! It's amazing."
France's Johanne Defay takes the win in the star-studded Round 2 bout against top-tier CTer Molly Picklum - ISA / Tim Mckenna
WER Heat 4: France's Johanne Defay vs Australia's Molly Picklum
After drawing blood during yesterday's dramatics, France's Johanne Defay looked fired up against young Australian Molly Picklum.
"The fall, the stitches, the concussion tests and stuff, not having the chance to really get a good wave… Yesterday was very frustrating," Defay said. "And then I go back home and they're like, ‘Oh, you're up against Molly tomorrow morning!' I'm like, oh shit, you know? I was not ready last night to hear that"
While Pickles got within striking distance with a 5.83 on her second wave-riding it all the way onto the dry reef, fins be damned-Johanne left her chasing a score with an even-4 and the day's best and biggest pit, a 7.83, that had to have felt good after yesterday's drama. With that, Team Australia's Medal dreams come down to Jack Robinson, Tyler Wright, and Ethan Ewing.
Brazil's Tatiana Weston-Webb escapes the Elimination Round with a heat win. - ISA / Tim Mckenna
WER Heat 5: Brazil's Tatiana Weston-Webb vs Nicaragua's Candelaria Resano
Tatiana Weston-Webb got busy against Nicaragua's Candelaria Resano, looking going to turns when necessary, and almost sneaking out of the doggy door in the dying minutes of what might have been her best wave. While Resano picked of beautiful waves, she couldn't quite find their rhythm, missing barrels on all of them. Weston-Webb heads to the Round of 16.
WER Heat 6: New Zealand's Saffi Vette vs Portugal's Yolanda Hopkins
As the day progressed, high-scoring heats became harder to come by. While there were a few opportunities that went uncapitalized, Portugal's Yolanda Hopkins needed only a 3.67 and a 1.00 to best New Zealand's Saffi Vette who finished the heat with a 1.27 heat total for two incomplete waves.
WER Heat 7: Brazil's Taina Hinckel vs Canada's Sanoa Dempfle-Olin
Brazil's Taina Hinckel and Canada's Sanoa Dempfle-Olin had a little better luck in the second to last heat of the elimination round. While Dempfle-Olin laid down a beautiful downcarve on an inside runner, Hinckel got the nod for slightly more dynamic surfing and more substantial wave, her best wave coming in the last minute of the heat, hammering backhand hooks all the way to the channel.
WER Heat 8: Israel's Anat Lelior vs Spain's Janire Etxabarri
Anat Lelior came out absolutely swinging against the Basque Country's Janire Gonzalez Etxabarri, racing for the channel to chip into a dreamy, running barrel, coming out cleanly and with enough time to lay down a nice little finishing turn, for a 6.5 to set the pace for the heat. The Tel Aviv local, Leilor, backed up her pit with a few combos of powerful turns and took the last spot in the Round of 16.
Men's Elimination Round:
Japan's Kanoa Igarashi is no stranger to the Olympic pressure having placed Silver in Tokyo. Next up for Japan's Igarashi in Round of 16 matchups is Brazil's three-time World Champ Gabriel Medina. - ISA
MER Heat 1: Japan's Kanoa Igarashi vs Leonardo Fioravanti
A heartache in the making, these two coming up against each other to decide who is the first men's Olympic surfer sent home. Leonardo Fioravanti and Kanoa Igarashi have been friends since they were preteen teammates on Quiksilver, part of the millennial Young Guns crew alongside Clay Marzo and Jack Robinson. These days the two are practically neighbors in Ericeira, both enjoying part-time Portuguese expatmanship.
Fioravanti and Igarashi took to the water with stiff offshore winds making for beautiful visuals but complicated, ribbed cylinders, which Igarashi was able to navigate beautifully. With Igarashi holding a commanding lead, the old friends went back to back on one of the more memorable exchanges of the day, Igarashi extending his lead with his second best score, a 6.8, while Fioravanti could only milk a 5 out of a clean, short but beautifully surfed barrel.
"Leo and I shared the first session we ever had at Teahupo'o together, you know," Igarashi said after sending his childhood friend packing. "I mean, we both started out so bad out there, and we were so scared. I mean, we were 12, you know, I mean, we didn't expect to be good. But then, you know, we slowly were working on it trying to be better and better and always pushing each other. I think he pushed me a lot more than I pushed him at times."
"On a day like today, it's just having the rhythm and being connected with the ocean. All it takes is one mistake or one good decision to make the heat turn your way. When we get the right waves, both of us were good enough to be able to make scores out of it. I had to push myself as far as I could to, to be able to make those barrels and to get as deep as I could because this win is so hard. Today went my way, you know, that's surfing."
"I mean, at the end of the day, it's great to be at the Olympics," added Igarashi. "But everyone wants to win a medal, everyone has the same goal. Getting a medal is not as easy as it sounds. It's one of those things you have to focus on yourself. Everyone says the same thing but it's really true, especially at Teahupo'o. It's not so much a chess game but it's just about who has better rhythm in the ocean. But for me, success is a Gold Medal."
"I woke up today and I saw that I had one of the toughest draws of the whole contest and it kind of got my heart racing and I just thought, I definitely don't want to lose out here in the first round in the Olympics. And I had to really dig deep. I told my coaches, ‘I'm a little bit nervous today' and he was like, 'I haven't heard you say that in a long time.' So that was a positive for me and it helped me sort of get into my rhythm."
"People talk about the weight of the Olympic Medal, but it's not literally, actual physical weight of it, it's the impact that it has. My brother sent me a picture of [his Silver Medal from Tokyo 2020/1] medal this morning and he was saying, there's two ways to look at it. You can look at it and go wow, there's a lot of expectations on me. I already have this medal. At the same time, you can look at it and go wow, I've done this before. So, I'm really thankful to my brother for sending that picture this morning."
Japan's Connor O'Leary drops a couple 7s and locks in his spot in the Round 3. O'Leary will face Australia's Ethan Ewing. - ISA / Pablo Jimenez
MER Heat 2: Germany's Tim Elter vs Japan's Connor O'Leary
Connor O'Leary's tuberiding is just as world class as his powerful on-rail approach, and the Japanese-Australian, who represents Team Japan, made quick work of Germany's Tim Elter, dropping two of the better scores of the day, a 7.33 and 7.17.
MER Heat 3: South Africa's Jordy Smith vs Indonesia's Rio Waida In what ended up being a dual of swordsman, Jordy Smith and Rio Waida suffered from a slow heat and few opportunities to tuck behind the curtain, relying on their rails for their scoring waves. Smith casually manhandled small Teahupo'o, linking backhand combos for the win.
MER Heat 4: France's Kauli Vaast vs. South Africa's Matt McGillvray
After a bit of a shocker session yesterday by Kauli Vaast's standards, the local showed what intimate knowledge of Teahupo'o's inside ledge looks like on the very first wave he hustled off South Africa Matthew McGillivray, locking into a running pit that puffed him right into a shoulder begging for a down carve, which Vaast laid down confidently for a 7.50 that probably could have gone excellent. McGillvray put up a solid fight that would have won almost any other heat, but Vaast turned the knife with a back up 6.53 to stay in the event.
"[Being the hometown hero] is something special and we need this," said local boy Kauli Vaast, of the outpouring of support he's felt from the local community and Tahitian fans. "This is really special. I don't know if I can put it into words. This is the best thing in the world because I was [a grom looking up to the pros] a couple of years ago, and I was watching Michel Bourez the same way. So this is really something special for Vahine and me-to see these kids cheering and I saw a couple in the boat- the best energy.
"It's something special just to have the Olympics in Tahiti, in Polynesia, because this is where surfing came from, and to be able to actually express ourselves doing what we love on the best wave in the world at home, where surfing was born, is something special. Especially for a local, yeah, it's insane."
"It's crazy like watching the Olympics on TV, and then knowing that we are a part of what's going on in Paris, being able to represent your country-that's massive," said South African Matty McGillvray, after a tough loss to the local boy. " I haven't felt that, so that's been sinking in for me, that sense of pride, how I really want to do my country proud. That's the main difference for me, just being able to represent something you're proud of. like where you come from. It's all about your country and I would love to still be going in the competition, but we've still got two South Africans. So I'll be supporting as best as I can."
MER Heat 5: Morocco's Ramzi Boukhiam vs El Salvador's Bryan Perez
Going blow for blow until the very end Morocco's powerhouse gooftyfoot, Ramzi Boukhiam, took down an in-form looking Bryan Perez from El Salvador. In the dying minutes a two-wave set rolled through giving both Boukhiam and The Pink Panther one last opportunity. While Boukhiam extended his lead, Perez pulled into the best tube he'd found all heat, threading it cleanly on his backhand. But with Boukhiam extending his lead with a technical, deep, if small tube, and Bryan's best score, though coming up short at a 6.43. Boukhiam keeps the Moroccan dream alive!
Mexico's Al Cleland has been widely regard as one of the best underground barrel riders on the planet, and today on a global stage Cleland proved all his supports correct. Cleland advances to the Round of 16 to face France's Joan Duru - ISA
MER Heat 6: Spain's Andy Criere vs Mexico's Alan Cleland
Mexico's Alan Cleland put on a clinic of backside hangers and technical tuberiding, dropping an 8.5 and backing it up with a casual 6.67 to eliminate Spain's Andy Criere, who couldn't get in rhythm at Teahupo'o enough to show off what he's more than capable of. Big Al heads to the Round of 16.
"It's just an honor to get to surf this wave with another person out," said Cleland after keeping the dream alive for Mexico, earning a spot in the Round of 16. "For me, I mean, the more I'm having fun, the more I'm enjoying it-I feel like I'm the most dangerous and the more I'm just in the moment. I'm just stoked to make another heat and hopefully next time we surf there's more waves. If a bomb comes, I always love to go. Hopefully in the next couple of days I can improve on my journey in the Olympics and see what happens."
Cleland was one of the surfers who took advantage of the ISA's training camps last year at Teahupo'o.
"I think it was one of the hugest things ever I think, for me, coming to one of those ISA training camps," added Cleland. "You know, I was supposed to come here for a week. I ended up staying a month and just being here with Tereva David and that whole crew. It taught me so much. It brought me so much knowledge of this reef pass, this wave, just everything about this island. It brought me so much knowledge just to be here in that training camp."
"I'm fairly confident enough in barrels, which I, that's been my whole life," continued Cleland. "Barrels have definitely been my strong point and I grew up just getting barrels where I live. So coming here, this wave is so much different to Mexico, which is sand-bottom, big waves, big swells, open ocean and you sometimes have to chase the waves. While here it's more like you just get a really good line up and you see the bomb and just have the guts to go. That's probably the most important part just committing. It's very satisfying."
"It's great having so many Latinos and just showing everybody that anything's possible because Latinos are showing up! We kinda showed that in El Salvador 2023, you know-three of us in the final were Latinos, one from Mexico and two from Peru. We're a force to be reckoned with and we're going strong. We all have the desire and just the dedication to really do it. And it's really cool to be a part of it."
"It's really cool to be in a storm that is just getting bigger and bigger by the day and it's getting stronger," concluded Cleland. "Just having so many great athletes, so many great friends, it just motivates you so much to just be a part of it and just do your best. Once you see one of your friends doing really good-one of the girls or one of the guys-you just want to do your best. It pushes you. Hopefully we can reach levels that we never thought about and, you know, sky is the limit. Have fun, enjoy it, and show everybody what we're made of."
Australia's Jack Robinson showed off why he has been praised as a slab-hunting prodigy since youth. - ISA
MER Heat 7: Australia's Jack Robinson vs Peru's Luccas Mesinas
If Jack Robinson's command of the Teahupo'o lineup wasn't blatantly obvious in yesterday's performance-which saw him winning the heat until Joan Duru's last minute heroics took the wind out the Australian's sails-today he made it plain and clear, dropping the highest score of the day for one of the best waves of the event, a 9.87, leaving Lucca Mesinas chasing a massive heat total.
MER Heat 8: Brazil's Filipe Toledo vs New Zealand's Billy Stairmand
In the last and most unexpectedly exciting heat of the day, Filipe Toledo put in the highest scoring heat of the day, and a career performance against New Zealand's Billy Stairmand. With dead wind and oil glass conditions, Stairmand was left scoreless halfway through, but began to make some headway with a beautiful, technical pit that garnered an 8.17, the highest score of the heat so far. But almost immediately Toledo answered back with one of the waves of the day, pulling in deep on top of the foamball, briefly out of view even looking straight into the pit, before emerging from behind the foamball with a gush of whitewater: a 9.67.
And with that radical crescendo, Day 2 of the 2024 Olympic Games are done and dusted and 16 Olympians are headed home.
With 16 surfers left on both the Men's and Women's side, the forecast looks dicey, so no guarantees, but we should see contestable conditions throughout the next few days.
You can find the Round 3 match-ups here. Heats that look particularly spicy:
- Australia vs USA: Jack Robinson vs John John Florence
- Brazil vs Japan: Gabriel Medina vs Kanoa Igarashi
- USA vs France: Griffin Colapinto vs Kauli Vaast
- China vs USA: Siqi Yang vs Caroline Marks
- France vs France: Vahine Fierro vs Johanne Defay
- Brazil vs USA: Tatiana Weston-Webb vs Caity Simmers
Learn more about Teahupo'o here.
Head to the International Surfing Association (ISA) for more information on surfing in the Olympics.