American Carissa Moore wins first-ever women’s Olympic surfing gold

Carissa Moore, of the United States, celebrates winning the gold medal.

By Kevin BaxterStaff Writer

July 27, 2021 1:09 AM PT

TOKYO —

American Carissa Moore struck gold in surfing’s Olympic debut Tuesday with teenage teammate Caroline Marks finishing fourth under slate-gray skies at Tsurigasaki Surfing Beach in Chiba Prefecture, Japan.

In the men’s final, Brazil’s Italo Ferreira overcame a broken board on his first wave to beat Japan’s Kanoa Igarashi with a two-wave score of 15.14 to Igarashi’s 6.60. Australian Owen Wright won the men’s bronze by two-tenths of a point over Brazil’s Gabriel Medina in the most competitive heat of the final day.

Earlier Tuesday, Ferreira, the 2019 World Surf League champion, scored a near-perfect 9.73 out of possible 10 in his quarterfinal heat, breaking the Olympic record of 9.00 Medina set in his quarterfinal.

Moore, the world’s top-ranked women surfer, beat South Africa’s Bianca Buitendag 14.93 to 8.46 in the women’s final while Japan’s Amuro Tsuzuki beat Marks 6.80 to 4.26 to take the bronze.

“I can’t believe it, it feels so amazing. I’m super happy,” Tsuzuki said.

Kolohe Andino, the top-finishing male surfer from the U.S., was eliminated in the first quarterfinal heat Tuesday, losing to Igarashi.

U.S. surfer Carissa Moore rides a wave during the women's surfing competition.

The medal rounds were scheduled to take place Wednesday but rough surf, high winds and rain associated with Tropical Storm Nepartak led organizers to move the finals up, forcing the competitors into an exhausting final day in which they surfed the quarterfinals, semifinals and gold-medal matches in less than seven hours.

Chiba is known for its relatively calm water but because of the weather, the surf was choppy Tuesday and the waves often had no shape, making it tough for the competitors to find one to ride. As a result, the final round was as much about timing and luck as it was about skill.

Tokyo Summer Olympics

Kevin Baxter

Kevin Baxter writes about soccer and other things for the Los Angeles Times, where he has worked for 24 years. He has covered five World Cups, three Olympic Games, six World Series and a Super Bowl and has contributed to three Pulitzer Prize-winning series at The Times and Miami Herald. An essay he wrote in fifth grade was voted best in the class. He has a cool dog.