Olympic Surfing Results: US Woman Takes Gold, Brazil Tops in Men's

Editor’s Note: We’ve updated our original Olympics surfing coverage with results.

Just like sport climbing, this year marks the first year surfing will be included in the Summer Olympics. Here’s all you need to know.

For years, athletes from around the world have been competing on the world stage through the World Surf League (WSL), formerly the ASP, and International Surfing Association (ISA) events. Now, seasoned surfers from the U.S., Australia, Brazil, and more will get to compete at the Olympics.

In 2016, surfing was approved by the International Olympic Committee and slated for Tokyo 2020. This summer, for the first time, professional surfers will compete in the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.

Check out all the details in our Olympics feature, or jump to a specific section below:

U.S. Surfing Athletes to Watch
International Surfing Athletes to Watch
How to Watch

Results: Olympic Surfing

Update: The first-ever Olympic surfing competition in Tokyo is complete. Athletes competed in three rounds with multiple heats, before top athletes moving on to quarterfinals, and then the semifinals. The final podium events wrapped up yesterday (technically, July 27 in Tokyo).

Before the medal events, athletes had to make it through a bracket-style competition of various heats. Kolohe Andino, 27, of the USA made it to the men’s quarterfinals, while Carissa Moore, 28, and Caroline Marks, 19, of the USA both made it to the semifinals.

Caroline Marks made it to the women’s surfing bronze medal match against Japanese surfer Amuro Tsuzuki, but ultimately finished with a lower score and placing fourth, just shy of the podium. Carissa Moore won gold in surfing, becoming the first-ever Olympic gold medalist surfer. Her top wave had a score of 14.93.

Here’s the final podium standing for men’s and women’s surfing:

Women’s Gold: Carissa Moore, USA
Women’s Silver: Bianca Buitendag, South Africa
Women’s Bronze: Amuro Tsuzuki, Japan
Men’s Gold: Italo Ferreira, Brazil
Men’s Silver: Kanoa Igarashi, Japan
Men’s Bronze: Owen Wright, Australia

Learn more about the athletes below.

Surfing in the Olympics: How It Will Work

Kanoa Igarashi competes at the ISA World Surfing Games in Miyazaki, Japan, 2019; (Red Bull Photo/Jason Halayko)

Forty athletes total, 20 men and 20 women, will compete in this event. For its inaugural year at the Olympics, 17 countries are represented: Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Chile, France, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, the U.S., Morocco, Peru, Portugal, South Africa, Israel, Ecuador, and New Zealand.

Most sports in the Olympics are divided into disciplines — for surfing there is just one. Athletes will compete in initial and then final rounds of open water, big wave surfing. Surfers are judged on special Olympic Judging Criteria, which factors in the type of maneuver, variety, and speed, power, style, and flow.

The criteria reflect “the definition of good surfing,” according to the International Olympic Committee, and are based pron the key elements of the sport and degree of difficulty.