Surfing: USA's Caroline Marks leads eight women advancing from opening round of Olympic competition at Teahupo'o

To paraphrase Team USA's Caitlin Simmers, Teahupo’o is also for the girls.

The surfing competition at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 opened Saturday 27 July at the stunning Teahupo’o venue on the island of Tahiti in French Polynesia for the sport’s second Olympic Games appearance.

The women’s round one followed the men, with eight 30-minute heats featuring 24 surfers competing. Eight women advanced into round 3, with the remaining 16 continuing into round 2, the round of 16, where they will have a second chance to qualify.

Following round 1, the eight women advancing directly into round 3 included all three of Team USA’s surfers including Caroline Marks, Caitlin Simmers and Carissa Moore. That trio is joined by France’s Vahine Fierro, Australia’s Tyler Wright, Costa Rica’s Brisa Hennessy and Spain’s Nadia Erostarbe.

In the first heat of the day, Marks earned the top wave score of the competition with a 9.43 (a perfect ride is 10 points). She also earned the top combined score with a 17.93 (out of a possible 20) making this two-time Olympian’s intentions clear — she’s here to win.

• Surfing: USA's John John Florence leads eight men advancing from round one at Teahupo’o Olympic venue
• Tyler Wright's making waves in 'half and half' wetsuit at Teahupo'o

Round two continues on Sunday, 28 July.

Heat 1: Caroline Marks advances over Yolanda Hopkins and Sarah Baum

Team USA’s Caroline Marks opened the women’s surfing competition with a bang. The reigning world champion earned the highest score of the day, a 9.43 (out of 10). Marks dropped into a double-overhead beast of a wave, pulled into the barrel, and came out with the spit. Marks put on a demo, completing a series of high-scoring waves to finish with a combined score of 17.93 (out of a possible 20).

South Africa’s Sarah Baum earned a total heat score of 8.47 and Portugal’s Yolanda Hopkins finished with a 7.0.

Heat 2: Vahine Fierro advances over Sol Aguirre and Janire Gonzalez Etxabarri

France’s Vahine Fierro, who calls Tahiti home, has a remarkable track record at Teahupo'o, having won the Championship Tour stop on this wave leading up to the Olympic Games. Fierro was in complete control from start to finish, mixing clean tube rides with a layback snap and graceful carving top turns. Fierro earned a total heat score of 11.17 to win heat 2.

Peru’s Sol Aguirre earned the second-place score of 4.30 and Spain’s Janire Gonzalez Etxabarri finished with a final heat score of 2.43.

Heat 3: Tyler Wright advances over Anat Lelior and Sanoa Dempfle-Olin

Two-time world champion Tyler Wright of Australia stayed deep in the barrels to maximize her tube time and up her wave score. Wright finished with a combined score of 7.67 to win heat 3.

Israel’s Anat Lelior found open wave faces to surf to earn a combined score of 5.43 while Canada’s Sanoa Dempfle-Olin made a last-minute effort to up her final score with a deep tube ride at the end of the heat, but she was unable to stay on her board, finishing with a 4.83.

Heat 4: Caitlin Simmers advances over Tatiana Weston-Webb and Molly Picklum

All eyes were on the talent-packed heat four, featuring three of the current top 10 women surfers in the world. In a dramatic finish to the heat, Team USA’s Caitlin Simmers advanced ahead of Brazil’s Tatiana Weston-Webb.

The action was nonstop, with Simmers stacking deep 6-point barrel rides to earn a combined heat score of 12.93, overtaking Weston-Webb for the win. Weston-Webb had been leading for most of the heat but finished in second with a total of 10.33.

Australia’s Molly Picklum was in the race, with a 5.77 single-wave score, but she wasn’t able to improve on her second-wave score, finishing with an 8.44.

Heat 5: Brisa Hennessy advances over Johanne Defay and Candelaria Resano

Costa Rica’s Brisa Hennessy took on Teahupo’o with a no-hand, backside barrel early in the heat to earn an 8.50 wave score, then backed it up with a 6.50. The result was a heat win and the day's third-highest combined total of 15.56.

France's Johanne Defay endured a brutal wipeout at the start of the heat, coming back strong to finish with a combined score of 9.50. Nicaragua’s Candelaria Resano earned a nice 6.00 wave score but wasn’t able to back it up with another big score, finishing with a total of 9.43.

Heat 6: Luana Silva advances over Camilla Kemp and Taina Hinckel

Heat six featured an evenly weighted three-way battle, with Brazil’s Luana Silva getting the better of the field with the highest-scoring wave score of 4.50 to earn the winning combined score of 7.27.

Fellow Brazilan Taina Hinckel took second place with a score of 5.73, followed by Germany’s Camilla Kemp, who finished with a 2.80.

Heat 7: Nadia Erostarbe advances over Yang Siqi and Saffi Vette

Spain’s Nadia Erostarbe was right at home at Teahupo’o. The goofy-footed surfer took the steep drop in, deep into a barrel to earn a best wave score of 8.33, finishing with a 13.83 total to win heat 7.

New Zealand’s Saffi Vette took second place with a combined score of 7.50. And 15-year-old surfer Yang Siqi from the People’s Republic of China was the youngest competitor of the day, earning a score of 5.40 and showing no fear in her first competition at Teahupo’o.

Heat 8: Carissa Moore advances over Matsudo Shino and Teresa Bonvalot

The final heat of the day saw defending Olympic gold medallist Carissa Moore of the USA sitting in third with seven minutes to go. But Moore showed why she’s a five-time world champion, displaying incredible patience in her priority wave selection and locking into a hollow, deep barrel to earn a 9.00, jumping up to first place.

Moore then found herself in position to drop into the biggest set of the day, bettering her second-wave score to 7.50 to finish with a combined total of 16.50 for the win — the scond highest score of the women's competition. Japan’s Matsuda Shino was nonstop through the heat, earning a combined total of 11.16, followed by Portugal’s Teresa Bonvalot with a 10.34, making heat 8 the highest-scoring heat of the day.