Paris 2024 surfing: Kaua‘i’s Weston-Webb advances to semi-finals

Kaua‘i’s Tatiana Weston-Webb has cleared the surfing quarter-finals and has advanced to the medal rounds in the 2024 Olympic Games.

Described as the “most in form female surfer of the day” in Thursday’s post on the Olympic Games’ official live blog, Weston-Webb, although a Garden Isle resident, representing her birth country of Brazil, dominated in her final quarter heat against Spain’s Nadia Erostarbe, earning the heats two best waves and winning a place in the semi-finals.

Surfing in Teahupo’o, Tahiti, the semi-finals will begin on Saturday.

“With powerful rail surfing and impeccable timing on her top turns, the goofy-footed Weston-Webb made the most of the tricky surfing conditions in her quarter-final heat…,” according to the blog.

Erostarbe finished with a 3.57 and a 2.77 for a total of 6.34. Weston-Webb, 28, kept her Olympic dreams alive with a 4.50 and a 3.60, totaling a heat-winning 8.10.

The defending gold medalist Carissa Moore of Team USA and Hawai‘i, has already been eliminated.

Speaking with Olympics.com surf reporter Ash Tulloch on scene in Tahiti after her quarter-finals loss, Moore talked about her performance and what she hopes it means to her fans.

“It’s definitely a letdown and a little bit of frustration to not be able to showcase what I feel like I’ve really worked on this year [backside tube riding]. But, regardless, I’ve had a great time…I’ve always wanted to be that person that- no matter what- a result doesn’t define me,” Moore said.

“It doesn’t define the work I have put in and it doesn’t define me as a surfer…I hope that today, despite my result, that I was able to bring joy and inspire other people to chase their dreams fearlessly. You know, don’t let a result or fear of failure keep you from going hard and going all in.”