Paris 2024 surfing: All results, with defending champion Moore out as Marks, Defay, Weston-Webb, Hennessy advance to women's semi-finals
In the wake of the rescheduled women’s round 3 earlier Thursday morning, 1 August, the narrowed-down field of eight women returned to the waves of Teahupo’o for surfing's quarter-finals of the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
The surfing resumed as overhead sets rolled through with clean faces and barrels, and although not peak Teahupo’o, the women found the waves they needed to record some results.
Only four women could advance into the quarter-finals, and the reigning Olympic champion — Team USA’s Carissa Moore — was not to be among them as she was eliminated in a dominating performance by France’s Johanne Defay.
An emotional Moore broke down several times speaking with reporters following her heat. "It's definitely a letdown and a little bit of frustration to not be able to showcase what I feel like I've really worked on this year [tube riding]. But regardless, I've had a great time," she said.
"I've always wanted to be that person who, no matter what, a result doesn't define me. It doesn't define the work I have put in and it doesn't define me as a surfer. I hope that today, despite my result, I was able to bring joy and inspire other people to chase their dreams fearlessly. You know, don't let a result or fear of failure keep you from going hard and going all in."
As Moore exited the media area, she was met with massive cheers from friends, fans and supporters.
The final four matchups for the women’s semi-finals are set with the following brackets to decide which surfers will advance into medal contention in this, the second Olympic Games for the sport.
The surfers advancing into the Olympic Games semi-finals are:
Heat 1: Team USA’s Caroline Marks vs. France’s Johanne Defay
Heat 2: Brazil's Tatiana Weston-Webb vs. Costa Rica's Brisa Hennessy
Semi-finals and the medal matches are scheduled for Saturday, August 3. See the full surfing schedule here.
Highlights of women’s Olympic Games surfing quarter-finals
Surfing heat 1: Team USA’s Caroline Marks advances over Australia's Tyler Wright
In a matchup of former world champions, Marks advanced over Australia's Tyler Wright by maximizing her turn time on the open faces. Heat 1 was lacking in barrels, and as such the heat's highest wave score of 4.0 went to Marks who was able to adapt and finish with a 7.77 combined score. Wright wasn’t able to find a wave to up her best score of 3.50 to finish with a combined score of 5.37.
Surfing heat 2: France’s Johanne Defay advances over Team USA’s Carissa Moore
Team USA's Moore, the defending Olympic gold medallist who is recognised as one of the most dominant female surfers of all time, was defeated by Defay of France. Defay earned a combined score of 10.34 to advance into the semi-finals, putting an end to Moore’s bid for back-to-back golds.
Defay took the lead early, releasing a series of smooth and powerful lip bashes timed perfectly to smack the pitching pocket of the waves, earning the heat’s two highest scores. Moore was still very much in the game in the final seconds of the heat, when she pulled into a Hail Mary barrel, very nearly exiting it in heroic fashion, alas it was not to be. Moore finished with a total score of 6.50.
Surfing heat 3: Brazil’s Tatiana Weston-Webb advances over Spain’s Nadia Erostarbe
Perhaps the most in-form female surfer of the day, Brazil's Weston-Webb displayed powerful rail surfing and impeccable timing on her top turns, making the most of the tricky surfing conditions to advance with a combined score of 8.10 over Spain's Nadia Erostarbe, who finished with a total of 6.34.
Surfing heat 4: Costa Rica’s Brisa Hennessy advances over Brazil’s Luana Silva
Costa Rica’s Hennessy has continued her dominating march through the competition, once again staying calm and cool-headed to get the job done in deteriorating conditions. Her performance Thursday to earn a 6.37 combined score was nothing like the majestic barrel rides that earned her a 15+ score earlier in the competition, but we’ll hopefully see more of that in the semi-finals.
Brazil's Luana Silva put up a valiant effort in choppy conditions, needing only a mid-range three-point wave score to win, but was unable to put it together, finishing with a total score of 5.47.