For the surfers ready to take on the beautiful, beastly wave called Teahupo’o, riding inside the deep barrel could mean the thrill of their life – or a dangerous dance with disaster.
Top competitive surfers from around the world, including a handful of athletes from Southern California, are gearing up for the Tahiti Pro, considered the most coveted and feared stops on the World Surf League’s World Tour. It’s a pounding, expert-only barrel that showcases the talent – and guts – of these brave wave riders.
This year, the pro is also offering a sneak peek at the seascape stage for the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics in what will be the sport’s second showing at the Summer Games, putting the sport on display for millions around the world.
The area is part of French Polynesia and the location was selected because of the sacred wave, Teahupo’o, which translates to “wall of skulls” or “broken skull.”
For surfers, the Tahiti Pro is a chance to prove their big-wave prowess and earn points toward making the top five cut for the world championships that will be surfed at Lower Trestles in September.
While some have already shown they can handle the monstrous wave, they can never be too comfortable at Teahupo’o, because one wrong misstep could mean leaving parts of their skin on the shallow, razor-sharp reef below, and a hold down by the pounding waves could quickly turn tragic.
Among the surfers who will be competing in coming days in the Tahiti Pro and will be back for the Olympics in July are a handful of athletes who call Southern California home: Florida’s Caroline Marks and Brazil’s Filipe Toledo, both who moved to San Clemente about a decade ago and claimed the WSL World Title at Lower Trestles last year, San Clemente native Griffin Colapinto and San Diego’s Caitlin Simmers.
Marks, Colapinto and Simmers will join Tokyo gold medalist Carissa Moore and fellow Hawaiian John John Florence to compete for Team USA. The USA women get three Olympic spots due to a win at the ISA World Games in Huntington Beach in 2022.
Huntington Beach’s Kanoa Igarashi surfs for Japan, while Toledo will compete for Brazil.
Marks and Simmers have both proven themselves on the wild Teahupo’o wave, last year matching up in the final for a Southern California showdown. Simmers, a newcomer on tour and still a teen at age 18, got one of the highest scores of the event – a 9.23 out of a possible 10 – to earn her spot in the finals, while Marks ultimately dominated the entire women’s field for the Tahiti Pro win.
“Tahiti was definitely an event that was a dream for me to win,” said Marks, 22, on a recent day while at her San Clemente home before heading to Tahiti. “To do it last year was really cool and it just gave me a lot of confidence. And now that it’s an Olympic venue, it’s just so amazing.”
The wave itself is known as one of the best – and scariest – in the world.
“The water is crystal-clear blue, but it comes from very deep water and all the energy comes on very shallow reef,” she described. “When all the stars align and all the swells align, it almost looks like a wave pool.
“It’s just so perfect.”
Of course, the sport relies on Mother Nature, she noted, so exactly what the ocean will produce is unknown.
“It’s really exciting and it definitely has the potential of being one of the best surfing contests ever, just because of where it’s at,” she said of the Olympics.
Growing up, Marks’ main focus was always a surfing world title, with few people expecting the sport to ever make it to the Olympic stage. But after decades of pushing for Olympic inclusion, the International Surfing Association convinced the decision-makers to add the board sport, along with skateboarding, to the Summer Games.
That gave surfers another goal to reach for: Olympic gold.
The Olympics also gave surfing unprecedented exposure; Marks says she is recognized now not just by surf fans, but equally by people who recognize her from the Tokyo games.
With more mainstream recognition comes more opportunity for athletes. Marks teamed up with Visa for commercials leading up to the Tokyo Olympics.
“Who knows if I would have ever done that if it wasn’t for the Olympics,” she said. “Surfing is obviously new to the Olympics. The Olympics have been around forever. And it’s the pinnacle of sports, that’s where you want to be, that’s where you want to go.”
Once you make it to the Olympic stage, you can call yourself an Olympian forever, she noted.
“Just representing your country, surfing for your country or surfing for a gold medal – it’s just pretty incredible,” she said.
For Marks, who accomplished her WSL World Title goal last year, making the Olympic podium would add to her already impressive career.
The “would you rather” question comes up a lot, she said: World Title or Olympic gold medal?
“To me, winning a World Title was always my number one focus, but now that I’ve won a World Title, of course, I would love it if I won the Olympics. The Olympics is a very big thing to me … in a perfect world, I just do both,” she said. “Yes, I would love to win a gold medal and then you just have all the boxes ticked off. So it is a huge focus for me, but I’m also focused on trying to win another world title. So I’d say I’m equally as focused on both.”
Scariest and heaviest wave
This Olympics will feel more like another stop on the professional surfing tour because it is removed from the rest of the games happening in Paris and France, Marks said.
But that also means many of the surfers will be familiar with the wave. But that doesn’t mean it will be an easy contest for them.
At Teahupo’o, you’re sitting out in the ocean and suddenly the wave pops up in front of you. Your decision-making has to happen in a split second.
The drop is scary and the wave is so thick, you can’t really even enjoy it until you’ve safely made it out of the barrel, San Clemente surfer Crosby Colapinto described.
“Your instincts take over because you’re in a fight-or-flight mode just to survive,” he said via cellphone while awaiting the contest start.
The 22-year-old surfer showed up weeks early to get practice time on the wave, joined by older brother Griffin, who isn’t just sitting at the top of the rankings on tour, but has also earned a spot in the upcoming Olympics.
“It’s still pretty trippy that the Olympics is happening in surfing, it’s pretty epic,” Crosby Colapinto said.
He’s staying with fellow San Clemente surfer Cole Houshmand, another rookie on the World Tour who is also a newbie competing at this barreling surf spot. Houshmand had just arrived on Monday, May 20, opting for some needed respite at home to do training before heading to Tahiti.
Houshmand has had a roller-coast start to the season. He found himself dangerously close to being taken off the World Tour during a mid-year cut, until he took a massive win at the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach last month.
He acknowledges the added pressure with the venue also doing double duty as the Olympic venue, but said he’s trying to just focus on his own performance.
Houshmand called Teahupo’o one of the “scariest and heavier” waves on tour.
“I don’t know how else to describe it – when it’s big, it’s scary,” he said, noting it also is a chance to get the wave of a lifetime.
That was the case for Griffin Colapinto, who took to social media a few days ago to share a warm-up bomb:
“The biggest wave of my life yesterday … and the possibilities are endless,” he wrote to fans.
Crosby Colapinto said he is trying to soak in this pivotal moment in his career, sharing moments with his brother and friends and rivals on the remote island as the surf break gets ready to take center stage.
“It’s a really beautiful place, the vibes are really cool,” he said. “Everything is starting to get set up and the energy is starting to rise. Hopefully, there’s waves on the way.”
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