Evenly matched men’s Quarterfinals highlighted by Vaast and Robinson’s identical heat totals
The men’s Quarterfinal draw was already evenly matched before Kauli Vaast (FRA) and Jack Robinson (AUS) set it in stone with their equal heat totals. The matches were also even in terms of qualification, with qualifiers from the ISA World Surfing Games making up the top half of the draw and WSL CT qualifiers filling the bottom half.
Additionally, three of the men’s Quarterfinals included teammates matching head-to-head. France, Brazil and Australia all had friendly fire with France’s Vaast and Joan Duru, Brazil’s Gabriel Medina and João Chianca and Australia’s Robinson and Ethan Ewing facing each other. Each team has been staying together and training closely, making for fascinating dynamics across all three heats.
The battle of the French teammates was highly active, with the two 2024 ISA WSG Medalists pushing each other across multiple exchanges. Vaast, the 22-year-old local Tahitian, stayed the most busy, building on nearly every wave surfed. It was an emotional victory for Vaast, who now carries the Gold Medal hopes of both his home of Tahiti and his nation of France.
“I was stressing a bit because he’s one of the best tube-riders,” Vaast said. “He’s like my big brother. We did so many training sessions out there. I know how he surfs, he knows how I surf. It was a great heat for me, a great inspiration because he knows and I know we gave it all in the heat, one hundred percent, two hundred percent. A lot of emotion after this one, but I’m happy I made it, stoked.”
Duru, the 2021 ISA WSG Gold Medalist, bows out of the event holding the highest heat total in Surfing’s Olympic history so far, which he earned in Round 3 (18.13). He had previously announced he would retire from competitive surfing after Paris 2024, but couched his response after his exit. The 35-year-old stated he will “see in the next couple days.”