Hawaii’s surfers representing the United States got off to good starts in the Paris Olympics in the first round of the surfing competition Saturday in the beautiful and sometimes brutal waves of Teahupo’o, Tahiti.
Defending gold medalist Carissa Moore and John John Florence both advanced straight to Monday’s third round by virtue of winning their Saturday heats.
“Yeah, the waves were fun,” Florence said. “There’s a lot of opportunity, so you can kind of just keep surfing. That’s my favorite type of surfing in a heat.”
Moore, a Punahou alumna, competed in the eighth and final heat of the day and won with a two-wave score of 16.50. Moore caught two big waves in the final five minutes, including a 9.0 ride, to beat Japan’s Shino Matsuda (11.16) and Portugal’s Teresa Bonvalot (10.34).
The other two surfers in Moore’s heat will compete in the second round scheduled for today. Also competing today will be Kauai’s Tatiana Weston-Webb, who is representing Brazil. She finished second (10.33) in Heat 4, which was won by Caitlin Simmers of the United States with a score of 12.93.
Moore’s total score was bested only by fellow American and reigning world champion Caroline Marks, who scored a 17.93 in the first heat for the highest score of the day. Marks’ scores were 9.43 and 8.5.
Haleiwa’s Florence kicked off the men’s surfing competition by recording scores of 9.33 and 8.00 on his two best waves to finish with 17.33 to beat Mexico’s Alan Cleland Quinonez (14.34) and Spain’s Andy Criere (12.00).
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.”
The quarterfinals, semifinals and bronze medal and gold medal matches are scheduled to take place Tuesday.