Surfing-Australia's Robinson wins in Tahiti to book Olympic, championship spots

Shiseido

17/08/2023 04:22

By Lincoln Feast
       Aug 16 (Reuters) - Australia's Jack Robinson put on a
tube-riding clinic to win the Shiseido Tahiti Pro on Wednesday,
clinching a spot in surfing's Final Five to decide a world
champion and booking a ticket to the Paris Olympics at the same
venue next year.
    Caroline Marks got the better of a battle-scarred Caitlin
Simmers in a low-scoring, all-American final on the women's side
in increasingly wind-affected waves at the dangerous reef break
of Teahupo'o.
    "Yeah, the waves got really tricky," Marks said. "But this
is a dream event to win, so I'm super pumped!"                  
          
    Equal parts beauty and brutality, Teahupo'o is renowned as
one of the world's best waves, its shallow coral reef
transforming thick Southern Ocean swells into perfect tropical
tubes that will be a worthy test for Olympians next year. 
    Ahead of the contest, Australian Ethan Ewing experienced
Teahupo'o's ferocity, fracturing two vertebrae during a warmup
and putting the world No. 3 in doubt for the one-day Rip Curl
WSL Finals in California next month to decide a world champion.
    Even with less-than-ideal conditions this week, the top
surfers navigated heavy drops and deep barrels, no one more so
than Robinson, a master tube-rider from Western Australia.
    While Medina prowled the lineup catching tube after tube and
racking up 15 points out of a possible 20 early in their final,
Robinson was patient catching just a handful of waves but
getting the longer, more technical barrel rides to pip Medina in
the final minutes.         
    The win gives Robinson the remaining spot at next month's
Finals to go with his Olympic qualification secured earlier in
the competition. Medina just missed out on both the Finals and
the Brazil Olympic team.
    The top 10 men and eight women at the end of this year's WSL
rankings will take the first 18 of 48 spots available for
Olympics, with a maximum of two spots per gender, per country. 
    Simmers or Marks will qualify along with reigning world and
Olympic champion Carissa Moore on Team USA depending on their
final ranking after the Finals at Lower Trestles in San
Clemente.
          
    PROVISIONAL PARIS 2024 OLYMPIC QUALIFIERS FROM WSL TOUR
    MEN
    Filipe Toledo (Brazil)
    Joao Chianca (Brazil)
    Griffin Colapinto (USA)
    John John Florence (USA)
    Ethan Ewing (Australia)
    Jack Robinson (Australia)
    Leonardo Fioravante (Italy)
    Kanoa Igarashi (Japan)
    Jordy Smith (South Africa)
    Matthew McGillivray (South Africa)
    
    WOMEN
    Carissa Moore (USA)
    Caroline Marks or Caitlin Simmers (USA)    
    Tyler Wright (Australia)
    Molly Picklum (Australia)
    Tatiana Weston-Webb (Brazil)
    Johanne Defay (France)
    Brisa Hennessy (Costa Rica)
    Teresa Bonvalot (Portugal)    

    RIP CURL WSL FINALS, SEPT 8-16, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
    Filipe Toledo (Brazil)
    Griffin Colapinto (USA)
    Ethan Ewing (Australia)
        Joao Chianca (Brazil)
    Jack Robinson (Australia)

    Carissa Moore (Hawaii)
    Tyler Wright (Australia) 
    Caroline Marks (USA)
    Molly Picklum (Australia)
    Caitlin Simmers (USA)    
    

 (Reporting by Lincoln Feast in Sydney; Editing by Jamie Freed)
 ((lincoln.feast@thomsonreuters.com; +61(2) 93218171;))