Surfing at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's shortboard

Women's shortboard
at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
Women's shortboard; at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
	Olympic surfing
Venue	Shidashita Beach, Chiba
Dates	25–27 July 2021
Competitors	20 from 12 nations
Winning score	14.93
Medalists
	2024 ⊟

The women's shortboard competition at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo was held from 25 to 27 July at the Shidashita Beach, or "Shida", located about 40 miles (64 km) outside of Tokyo in Chiba.^[1]

The medals for the competition were presented by Bernard Rajzman, IOC Member, one Olympian, and Silver Medalist, Brazil; and the medalists' bouquets were presented by Fernando Aguerre, ISA President; United States.

Background

This was the first time the surfing is held at the Olympics; it was one of five temporary sports selected for Tokyo 2020. Surfing has also been selected as a temporary sport for 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.

Qualification

Quota places were allocated to the athletes at the following events:

Host Country: Japan as host country is allocated 1 place in both men's and women's events. If at least one Japanese surfer has earned a qualification place through other events, the relevant Host Country Place(s) shall be reallocated to the next highest ranked eligible athlete at the 2020 World Surfing Games.
2019 World Surf League Championship Tour – the 10 highest ranked men and 8 highest ranked women will be awarded quota places.
2019 ISA World Surfing Games – the top finishers from each continent with the exception of the Americas will be awarded a quota place.
2019 Pan American Games – the top finisher in men's and women's events will be awarded a quota place.
2021 ISA World Surfing Games – the top 4 men and 6 women will be awarded quota places. If a NOC or National Olympic Committee qualifies more than the maximum number of athletes, the 2021 ISA World Surfing Games will prevail and any places earned from 2019 will be reawarded to the next highest finishing athlete(s).

There is a maximum of 2 men and 2 women per NOC.^[2]

Competition format

The competition consists of six rounds:^[3]^[4]

Round 1: 5 heats of 4 surfers each; the top 2 in each heat (10 total) advance to round 3 while the other 2 from each heat (10 total) go to round 2 (essentially a repechage)
Round 2: 2 heats of 5 surfers each; the top 3 in each heat (6 total) advance to round 3 while the other 2 in each heat (4 total) are eliminated
Round 3: Head-to-head competition starts with this round of 16 (8 heats of 2 surfers each; winner advances, loser eliminated)
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Final and bronze medal match

The length of each heat (20 to 35 minutes) and the maximum number of waves each surfer can ride are determined by the technical director ahead of the day of competition.^[3] Scoring for each wave is from 0 to 10, with the best two waves for each surfer counting.^[5] Scores are based on the difficulty of manoeuvres performed, innovation and progression, variety, combination, speed, power, and flow of each manoeuvre.^[5]

Schedule

H	Heats	QF	Quarter-Finals	SF	Semi-Finals	F	Finals

Schedule
Date	25 Jul		26 Jul	27 Jul
Men's	R1	R2	R3	QF	SF	F
Women's	R1	R2	R3	QF	SF	F

Competition took place over 3 days between 25 July and 27 July.^[6]^[7] Due to a tropical storm the inaugural Olympic surfing finals were moved from Thursday 29 July to Tuesday 27 July.^[8]

Results

Round 1

The first round is non-elimination. Surfers are seeded into five heats of four surfers each, with the top two surfers advancing straight to Round 3. The bottom two surfers are seeded into Round 2, the first elimination round.

Heat 1

Rank	Surfer	Nation	Total score	Notes
1	Carissa Moore	United States	11.74	R3
2	Teresa Bonvalot	Portugal	9.80	R3
3	Dominic Barona	Ecuador	7.66	R2
4	Daniella Rosas	Peru	7.50	R2

Heat 2

Rank	Surfer	Nation	Total score	Notes
1	Sally Fitzgibbons	Australia	12.50	R3
2	Brisa Hennessy	Costa Rica	12.20	R3
3	Bianca Buitendag	South Africa	11.44	R2
4	Mahina Maeda	Japan	9.20	R2

Heat 3

Rank	Surfer	Nation	Total score	Notes
1	Stephanie Gilmore	Australia	14.50	R3
2	Silvana Lima	Brazil	12.13	R3
3	Pauline Ado	France	9.17	R2
4	Anat Lelior	Israel	7.77	R2

Heat 4

Rank	Surfer	Nation	Total score	Notes
1	Tatiana Weston-Webb	Brazil	11.33	R3
2	Johanne Defay	France	10.60	R3
3	Sofía Mulánovich	Peru	7.80	R2
4	Amuro Tsuzuki	Japan	6.99	R2

Heat 5

Rank	Surfer	Nation	Total score	Notes
1	Caroline Marks	United States	13.40	R3
2	Ella Williams	New Zealand	9.70	R3
3	Leilani McGonagle	Costa Rica	9.64	R2
4	Yolanda Hopkins	Portugal	9.24	R2

Round 2

The top three surfers from each heat in Round 2 advance to Round 3. The bottom two surfers from each heat are eliminated.

Heat 1

Rank	Surfer	Nation	Total score	Notes
1	Amuro Tsuzuki	Japan	11.60	R3
2	Bianca Buitendag	South Africa	10.40	R3
3	Mahina Maeda	Japan	9.63	R3
4	Leilani McGonagle	Costa Rica	9.63	E
5	Dominic Barona	Ecuador	8.87	E

Heat 2

Rank	Surfer	Nation	Total score	Notes
1	Yolanda Hopkins	Portugal	12.23	R3
2	Pauline Ado	France	9.66	R3
3	Sofía Mulánovich	Peru	9.36	R3
4	Anat Lelior	Israel	8.93	E
5	Daniella Rosas	Peru	8.14	E

Round 3

The winner from each head-to-head heat qualifies to the next round.^[9]

3rd round		Quarter finals		Semifinals		Finals

Stephanie Gilmore (AUS)	10.00

Bianca Buitendag (RSA)	13.93
		Bianca Buitendag (RSA)	9.50

		Yolanda Hopkins (POR)	5.46
Johanne Defay (FRA)	9.40

Yolanda Hopkins (POR)	10.84
				Bianca Buitendag (RSA)	11.00

				Caroline Marks (USA)	3.67
Brisa Hennessy (CRC)	12.00

Ella Williams (NZL)	7.73
		Brisa Hennessy (CRC)	6.83

		Caroline Marks (USA)	12.50
Caroline Marks (USA)	15.33

Mahina Maeda (JPN)	7.74
						Bianca Buitendag (RSA)	8.46

						Carissa Moore (USA)	14.93
Carissa Moore (USA)	10.34

Sofía Mulánovich (PER)	9.90
		Carissa Moore (USA)	14.26

		Silvana Lima (BRA)	8.30
Silvana Lima (BRA)	12.17

Teresa Bonvalot (POR)	7.50
				Carissa Moore (USA)	8.33

				Amuro Tsuzuki (JPN)	7.43
Tatiana Weston-Webb (BRA)	9.00					Bronze medal match

Amuro Tsuzuki (JPN)	10.33
		Amuro Tsuzuki (JPN)	13.27			Caroline Marks (USA)	4.26

		Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS)	11.67			Amuro Tsuzuki (JPN)	6.80
Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS)	10.86

Pauline Ado (FRA)	9.03

References

^ "Surf year opens for Olympic qualifying, equal pay". ESPN.com. 3 April 2019. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
^ "Tokyo 2020 Qualification System – Surfing" (PDF). 16 March 2018. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
^ ^a ^b "Surfing 101: Competition format". NBC. 11 March 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
^ "Surfing in Tokyo 2020: the official competition format". 18 February 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
^ ^a ^b "Everything you need to know about Olympic Surfing at Tokyo 2020". IOC. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
^ "Schedule – Surfing Tokyo 2020 Olympics". Olympian Database. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
^ "Surfing Competition Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
^ "Surfing finals day is underway at Tokyo 2020! How to watch and get involved". Tokyo 2020. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
^ "Source". Archived from the original on 14 January 2022. Retrieved 27 July 2021.

[1] "Surf year opens for Olympic qualifying, equal pay". ESPN.com. 3 April 2019. Retrieved 24 July 2021.

[2] "Tokyo 2020 Qualification System – Surfing" (PDF). 16 March 2018. Retrieved 24 July 2021.

[NBCformat-3] "Surfing 101: Competition format". NBC. 11 March 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2021.

[STformat-4] "Surfing in Tokyo 2020: the official competition format". 18 February 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2021.

[IOCsummary-5] "Everything you need to know about Olympic Surfing at Tokyo 2020". IOC. Retrieved 17 July 2021.

[6] "Schedule – Surfing Tokyo 2020 Olympics". Olympian Database. Retrieved 8 March 2020.

[7] "Surfing Competition Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Retrieved 8 March 2020.

[8] "Surfing finals day is underway at Tokyo 2020! How to watch and get involved". Tokyo 2020. Retrieved 27 July 2021.

[9] "Source". Archived from the original on 14 January 2022. Retrieved 27 July 2021.

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