By Lincoln Feast
TEAHUPO’O, Tahiti (Reuters) -A heartbroken and tearful Vahine Fierro bowed out of the Olympic surfing competition at her home break of Teahupo’o on Thursday, going down to countrywoman Johanne Defay in tough conditions in the third round.
After winning the Tahiti Pro at the same incredible venue in May, Fierro had high hopes to make the podium.
“Good job to Johanne, she’s a very strong competitor,” Fierro said after losing with a low-scoring two-wave total of 7.54 out of 20 to Defay’s 9 points. “The conditions were tricky. I was able to find barrels, but I just fell, I wasn’t able to make them and that’s what cost me the heat.”
Fierro took a jetski back to shore via the small spectator zone at Teahupo’o, where the home fans showed their appreciation.
“I would like to thank all the crowd, all the people that supported me from far and from close. It warms my heart so much. Whether I win or lose, they were there and it’s very special,” she said before getting a long hug from family.
Friendly fire is a theme for the men’s quarter-finals too. France’s Kauli Vaast and Joan Duru will meet in one quarter-final before Brazil’s Joao Chianca and Gabriel Medina come up against each other. Australia’s Ethan Ewing and Jack Robinson also will be fighting for a semi-final berth.
An Olympic surfing judge from Australia was cut from the panel scoring the competition after a photo circulated on social media showing him posing with Ewing and the team manager.
In other women’s round three results, world champions Tyler Wright of Australia and Americans Carissa Moore and Caroline Marks won through, along with the dangerous Tatiana Weston-Webb of Brazil and Costa Rica’s Brisa Hennessy.
Waves were still jumbled and hard to find after two-and-a-half days of competition were lost to stormy weather, with good tubes few and far between and heat totals low.
Delays due to poor conditions are completely normal in surfing competitions, with organisers having a 10-day window to run four days of heats – though picking those days is not always easy.
Quarter-finals for men and women are set to run in the afternoon, with the swell dropping before a small bump up on Saturday, making it a possible day to find the medallists.
Organisers could decide to endure a nail-biting wait for better waves that might arrive in time for the last possible day of competition on Monday.
Tahiti’s Teahupo’o delivered some of the best conditions ever seen for a competition for the men’s round three on Monday, before strong winds ripped through the lineup.
(Reporting by Lincoln Feast in Tahiti; Editing by Christian Radnedge and Bill Berkrot)
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