After yesterday evening's dramatics, and the first pack of 16 surfers having their Olympic dreams cut short, the chance of running a full day of heats in contestable conditions for the third day in a row seemed too good to be true.
Alas, the ISA informed athletes early that there was a good chance of running both men's and women's 3rd Round/Round of 16 today, and were greeted early by the broadcast kicking off with an empty wave blowing its guts out into the channel, hyping the first heat of South Africa's Jordy Smith vs Peru's Alonso Correa.
If yesterday was a good representation for approachable, critical competitive surfing, today's conditions pushed the logical limits of what mainstream viewers would expect of a sporting event-what from the outside look like actual life or death situations happening every heat.
Those who have been hearing a lot of armchair meteorology the last few weeks leading up the the event were left scratching their head: how did we so drastically underestimate this swell?
"It was crazy to just watch it pick up," said Griffin Colapinto of the surprisingly solid, pristine conditions that greeted them on Day 3. "The energy just jacked up within like 30 minutes. I was getting my 6'1's and 6'2's ready and then all of a sudden I'm out there, and we're scrambling for my 6'4's and 6'6's - my coaches were running in to grab them."
Let's get into the carnage, guts, and glory we saw on the biggest and most exciting day of Olympic surfing in history.
Peru's Alonso Correa fully committed to kickoff the historic day of surfing. - ISA
MR3 Heat 1: Jordy Smith vs Alonso Correa
Surely Jordy Smith and Alonso Correa would have been tripping, making their way into the lineup to see backless, big, heavy bombs - about as solid of swell as the inside ledge will hold - absolutely grinding through the lineup, a touch too much west in it making for some really scary closeouts.
In the first of what would be a series of upsets, Smith was sent home by an absolutely chagrin Correa, who posted an 8.5 for the biggest and hollowest wave of the event so far, setting the bar pretty high for the day, and backed it up with a respectable 6.5.
As for Jordy, now out of the event, who did he think would take home Gold?
"John [John Florence] and Jack [Robinson] have probably the most experience [at Teahupo'o]," said Smith. "Then Kauli [Vaast] and Gabriel [Medina], though I think Kauli more than anyone has been on every single size and swell angle at this wave. I think it's hard to get past those guys, but we've only got one round today and there could be howling onshores and it could be two-foot; or they could run it tomorrow when it's bombing and onshore. Either way it's gonna be something really exciting."
"I think overall, I think we can be stoked with the waves that we've had, the winds we've had. So far the opening three days have been pretty pristine yesterday."
"I think if I look back at my life later on, I'll probably just be like, ‘Wow, it's cool to be a part of something like this, more so than winning the medals or anything like that," added Smith. "Obviously, those are always the goals, but I can help inspire the next generation of South African surfers to go and chase their dreams."
So, is this Smith''s last appearance at the Olympics, or will he still have the fire to qualify and compete in four years time?
"I'm 36, but I'll tell you: I wanna do Los Angeles. I wanna try to fight to get there."
Japan's Reo Inada heroically charging, setting the standard early. - ISA
MR3 Heat 2: Japan's Reo Inaba vs Brazil's Filipe Toledo
Going to sleep a hero, Filipe Toledo would have been on a rollercoaster of emotions this AM - watching dozens of unridden or unridable mutants draw off the inside Teahupo'o ledge and explode into the air a few hundred meters away. Toledo was left scoreless almost halfway through the heat, with Reo Inaba sending it on a closeout and making a low scoring wave. It's hard to imagine the pressure he would have been feeling, finally digging for a solid, chunky set wave, handling the drop and pulling in only to be bucked off by the foamball trying to exit, his board looking like it might have snapped between his feet.
The defending World Champ, Toledo, found himself in the middle of chaos. Big west bowls clearing the lineup, rescue skis getting dry-docked on the reef trying to navigate to him, and a long way round the lagoon to consider what it was going to take to make the most of the remaining ten minutes of the heat.
Sadly, Toledo couldn't pull the trigger on a scoring wave, grabbing a last ditch wave for a throwaway and a ride into the channel, headed home.
Local Tahitian, representing host nation France, showed off how local knowledge reigns supreme in waves of consequence. - ISA
MR3 Heat 3: France's Kauli Vaast vs USA's Griffin Colapinto
In the heat of the morning so far, Kauli Vaast and Griffin Colapinto went more or less blow for blow, trading pits. On his backhand, Colapinto sturdily navigated the proper mutant cylinders on offer, putting up two respectable scores of a 6. And 7.5, against Vaast's single best wave, until a proper bomb presented itself, with the local boy showing grace under impossible pressure, standing tall, for the highest wave score of the heat, 7.77, and easily enough to take the win.
"It was super tough," said Colapinto of his loss. "I felt really good in the heat and that it could totally go my way at any point for the first half of the heat. It was going my way and then there was just that wave that Kauli got and he got the score and then the waves behind it were super big and west. I had to duck dive them and I was almost getting sucked back over actually, when I was duck diving those waves. So that was kind of scary."
"That's how it goes, you know, I lost so many times in my life," added Colapinto. "So I'll be all right. It's part of life. I've gotten to a point where I could say I'm a really well-rounded surfer, that definitely feels deserving of a World Title at some point. So just feeling that will give me a lot of confidence going into the the back of the year."
And who would Colapinto be rooting for from the channel for the rest of the event?
"I think I gotta go with John," said Colapinto. "John is my teammate these days, so yeah, I'd love to see him take it out."
France's Joan Duru was pushed to the next level by hard charging Al Cleland of Mexico, in an all-time back-and-forth battle - ISA
MR3 Heat 4: France's Joan Duru vs Mexico's Al Cleland Jr.
Teahupo'o flexed for Heat 4, as Joan Duru and Alan Cleland traded absolute monsters, with Duru getting deeper, longer pits compared to Al's waves which were maybe bigger, with more intense drops, but short, compression pits (that delivered dramatic explosions of spit into the channel upon Al's exit.).
"I'm so stoked to be here," said Duru after his huge win over Cleland. "I'm stoked with the French team. We're still here and we are representing, we're good friends, so I'm really proud of us and really proud to represent France."
Mexico's Alan Cleland put it all on the line. - ISA
"I've been trying to score this wave with one other guy out, in that size, for a bit now, and it feels good to put your head down and just go on a bomb and get a couple of fun ones," said Cleland after being knocked out of the event. "I got three proper waves and I'm just grateful for the opportunity to be here and represent my country and pretty much show anybody that if a wave comes, I'm going. I just wanted to prove that point. I've been putting my whole life and dedication into bigger waves, hours and hours in the ocean as big as it gets. It feels good to actually get an opportunity to show the world that I can do it, and to be in a group of all these gnarly surfers, it just feels good to put my name there."
"I've had so many people texting me and just mentioning my story, and they don't even surf. They don't know nothing about surfing and they're like, "We're just supporting Alan because of the flag!" It feels really good to have such great backing from my country and so many good people-it feels like an honor and more than anything. To share this moment with my dad, and the whole team that's here, it's been a long, long time coming and shows that hard work and dedication can get you places you never really thought you would get-as you have the dream and chase it, you can definitely get there."
Brazil's Gabriel Medina once again proved he is the one the of the gnarliest ever at Teahupo'o. - ISA
MR3 Heat 5: Brazil's Gabriel Medina vs Japan's Kanoa Igarashi
It's hard to overstate how intensely Gabriel Medina dominated this heat. Medina was on a vengeful warpath against Kanoa Igarashi, who took him out at Tokyo 2020 in the Bronze Medal surf off.
From his opening wave-the biggest, heaviest, hollowest wave of the event so far-to his last, Medina never let off the gas. He backed up his opening 9.8 - which could have very easily been a 10 - with a beautiful running pit for a 7.5, taking wave after wave even if he didn't need the score. While Igarashi eventually started to get busy, Medina was relentless, borderline unbeatable, and left the Japanese-American thoroughly comboed for the better part of the last two-thirds of the heat.
Medina continuing to redefine iconic performances at the End Of The Road. Jerome Brouillet/AFP via Getty Images - ISA
"I've gotten a few tens before here, and I was like, for sure that was a 10-the wave was just so perfect," Gabe said of his incredibly steep and deep pit. "[Losing in ] Tokyo was a hard one to deal with because I was so close to the medal. So Kanoa took me out on that one and then I got revenge just now and it's good to get him back."
Brazil's Joao Chianca overcame a life threatening injury to shine bright on the greatest stage in sport. - ISA
MR3 Heat 6: Brazil's Joao Chianca vs Morocco's Ramzi Boukhiam
After the noise and drama of Medina and Igarashi's heat, it was hard to imagine the day's volume being turned up any higher. But Joao Chianca and Ramzi Boukhiam's all out donnybrook proved to be arguably the heat of the day so far, both dropping excellent scores for throaty, wide, heavy pits.
Finishing the heat with a 18.1 total, Chianca got the nod, with the highest scoring heat of the day so far with a 9.3 and 8.8, with Ramzi trailing at 17.8 by just .3, with a 9.7 - the wave of the heat - and a backup 8.1.
‘I'm pretty upset right now, but happy with what I did,' said Ramzi after losing to Joao Chianca. "I tried my best with the opportunities I got and that was one of the toughest jobs for me. I know that I could have brought home Gold for Morocco in these types of waves-it was going to be next level.
"[Joao] and I were like, ok, 'let's have fun, bro.' Since the beginning of the training season, we'd say, 'Imagine if it's big and we have a heat together and I was like, ‘Bro, this is it! Look at this, it's pumping!' We were trading back to back waves," added Boukhiam. "I was like, 'Wow, this is it!' Amazing heat, amazing barrels - big barrels against one of the best guys in the world. At the end, I was hoping for one more exchange, even though he wasn't needing a score, just one more exchange."
"Even though I lost, I think this is going to be one of the best events of my life for a long time."
Australia's Jack Robinson handled business against USA's John Florence in the most anticapated match of the event, showcasing elite techinque in the heaviest of situations. - ISA
MR3 Heat 7: USA's John Florence vs Australia's Jack Robinson
In what many touted as one of the match-ups of the event, USA's John John Florence and Australia's Jack Robinson struggled to match the same fireworks of the previous few heats. With more or less throwaways well into the back half of the hear, both Robinson and Florence were able to pick off scoring waves out of the rapidly diminishing, but still pumping conditions, and both took proper floggings on set waves that clamped and sent them the long way around the lagoon (how fast are these Olympic jet skis btw?).
Jack turned the screws with a 7.17 and 6.77, as John was left searching for a wave to back up his 6.5 and couldn't quite will one into existence.
MR3 Heat 8: Japan's Connor O'Leary vs Australia's Ethan Ewing
As conditions continued to get worse, Japan's Connor O'Leary and Australia's Ethan Ewing didn't let it stop them from getting busy. With each of them taking swings on more than a handful of waves, Ewing got the better of the first few exchanges, nabbing an early 5.5 then backing it up with an 8.5 to seal the deal.
Certainly the most dramatic and impactful day of Olympic surfing so far, the day was put to bed with the announcement that the Women's Round 3 heats would have to wait another day with heavy weather sweeping in. According to sources, there's more of that on the way, so no telling when the event will resume. With today's conditions and performances drastically exceeding the forecast and expectations, don't be sad because the day's over, be grateful today ever happened at all.
Learn more about Teahupo'o here.
Head to the International Surfing Association (ISA) for more information on surfing in the Olympics.