By Lincoln Feast, Reuters
France's Kauli Vaast exits the barrel in the men's surfing gold medal final. Photo: BEN THOUARD
France's Tahitian local Kauli Vaast surfed a near perfect heat to claim gold in the men's event at Teahupo'o in Tahiti.
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.
After Teahupo'o delivered unquestionably the greatest day of Olympic surfing competition last week, waves for the morning of finals' day failed to live up to expectations, with infrequent swells and tricky winds.
But conditions improved as the day progressed and the men's finals were held in clean, overhead barrels at "The End of the Road", as Teahupo'o is also known.
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.
Australia's Jack 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.
- Reuters