French surfer and Tahitian local Kauli Vaast wins Gold

Surfing: French surfer and Tahitian local Kauli Vaast wins Gold 

Surfing a wave he grew up riding, Team France’s Kauli Vaast has won the Gold Medal.

You could hear the excitement building on the beach, audible chants of "Kauli! Kauli!" ringing out as the clock ticked down. In the end, the Teahupo’o local was the easy winner in his Gold Medal match up with Australia’s Jack Robinson.

All the scoring that mattered happened in the first 9-minutes of the Final, the highlight coming on the heat’s opening exchange. Vaast (FRA) drew first blood and it was about as impressive as it gets. The day’s biggest wave opened wide for him and he got absolutely kegged out of his mind for the entire wave. He came flying out, both arms flexing, shouting wildly. It was a 9.50 and, as it turned out, it was the wave of the day on the Men’s side of the draw.  

Robinson (AUS), surfing on his backhand, answered on the very next wave, pulling in deep to a frothy, intense tube. He came out after the spit and got a 7.83 for the effort. But that was it for Robinson. He never managed another scoring wave in the heat. 

But for the eventual Gold Medalist, his near-perfect opening was backed up by another deep barrel. But this time he came out and executed a smooth and powerful cutback before critcially snapping his board under the lip at the wave’s finish.