Paris 2024 Olympics: France’s Johanne Defay barrels her way into surfing’s round three at Teahupo’o
It’s day two of surfing at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 venue at Teahupo’o on the island of Tahiti in French Polynesia on Sunday, 28 July.
In round two, 16 women competed in a head-to-head format, with half advancing into round three to join the eight winners from round one.
The surfers were confronted with a less organised swell and changing wind direction, which resulted in a variety of conditions throughout the competition. Barrel rides were scarce in many heats - as an alternate, surfers looked for open wave faces to lay down turns.
Round two advancing surfers include: People’s Republic of China’s Yang Siqi - the 15-year-old became the first surfer from her nation to advance into round three - South Africa’s Sarah Baum, Japan’s Matsudo Shino, France's Johanne Defay, Brazil’s Tatiana Weston-Webb, Portugal’s Yolanda Hopkins, Brazilian Taina Hinckel, and Israel’s Anat Lelior.
After qualifying, Defay shared insights on her competition experience. The Frenchwoman fell during round one. She said: “I fell on my first wave and cut myself on my forehead, but I continued and then got four stitches.” She has passed all the tests necessary to surf in round two, adding: “Everything is OK, so I was relieved to be able to compete.”
Defay earned the top wave score of 7.83 and top total score, 11.83, of the competition.
She said: “I’m very happy to get this win. Today I managed to get focused, and to be in the waves and in the present moment. It has been a good session that motivates me for what’s coming.”
The surfing competition continues in round three, the round of 16, which will feature eight head-to-head heats. The winners will advance into the quarter-finals (eight surfers in four heats), semi-finals and into the final bronze and gold medal matches.
Tatiana Weston-Webb of Brazil carves off the top of a wave
Heat 1: Yang advances over Aguirre
Fifteen-year-old Yang Siqi became the first surfer from the People’s Republic of China to advance into round three at the Olympic Games. Tang overcame a lack of barrel rides, showing her turning skills with big bottom turns and lip bashing to advance with a 9.77 over Peru’s Sol Aguirre (6.84).
Heat 2: Baum advances over Kemp
South Africa’s Sarah Baum got the first barrel of the day, earning a 4.83. She followed with another great barrel ride to up her wave score and finished with a 9.77 to advance over Germany’s Camilla Kemp (4.94).
Heat 3: Matsudo advances over Bonvalot
The waves cleaned up throughout this heat. With seven minutes to go, Japan’s Matsudo Shino found a big tube ride, dropping deep in the barrel to earn a 7.67. This was an incredible moment that saw her advance over Portugal’s Teresa Bonvalot (6.84).
Heat 4: Defay advances over Picklum
This heat saw an all-time match-up between France’s Johanne Defay and Australia’s Molly Picklum. The heat saw several switch-ups in the leaderboard - Picklum overtook Defay, finding the first clean exit from the barrel, taking it all the way to the reef. Defay answered back with a series of deep barrel rides, the best earning the top heat score of 7.83 to take the lead. She smartly added in backup waves with plenty of critical turns to take the heat win with a combined score of 11.83.
This marks a disappointing early exit for Picklum (7.43), who was a big-wave favorite coming into these Games.
Heat 5: Weston-Webb advances over Resano
Patience paid off for Brazil’s Tatiana Weston-Webb, who waited for a perfect barrel into a powerful cutback to earn a score of 5.50, she topped it off with powerful turning for a second wave score of 4.00 (9.50) to advance over Nicaragua’s Candelaria Resano (3.30).
Heat 6: Hopkins advances over Vette
Heat 6 progressed quietly, with highlights provided by Portugal’s Yolanda Hopkins who charged hard throughout the heat, taking full advantage of limited opportunities, dramatically paying the price on a spectacular wipeout. Hopkins earned her top score with a solid backside carve to take the win with a combined score of 4.67 over New Zealand’s Saffi Vette (1.27).
Heat 7: Hinckel advances over Dempfle-Olin
Wind again came into play in heat 7, with the women searching for turns over barrels. Brazilian Taina Hinckel found open faces to link up turns, scoring 3.30 and 3.80 waves, leaving the door slightly open for Canada’s Sanoa Dempfle-Olin, who made a huge effort to bust through.
Dempfle-Olin linked up a series of beautiful turns but couldn’t find the wave size to impress the judges, finishing with a combined score of 6.30. Hinckel advances into round 3 with a combined score of 7.10.
Heat 8: Lelior advances over Gonzalez
And the wind let off as heat 8 got underway, with Israel’s Anat Lelior finding a tube ride right out of the gate, ending with a nice cutback for a 6.50, her best wave score of the heat. Leilor added to her overall score in the last five minutes, stalling her board to get into position for another barrel, which she saw through to the end for a combined score of 11.00. Leilor advanced ahead of Spain’s Janire Gonzalez (2.80).