Surfing

Former professional snowboarder Giulia Manfrini died last week in a surfing accident near the Mentawai Islands off the West Sumatra coast in Indonesia.

According to state-news agency Antara, via CNN's Alex Stambaugh, Mentawai Islands disaster management agency head Lahmudin Siregar said the 36-year-old from Italy was struck in the chest by a swordfish while surfing.

Per AFP, Siregar added that the swordfish caused a wound that was two inches deep, and Hidden Bay Resort Mentawais wrote on Instagram that Manfrini "died almost immediately."

James Colston, who was Manfrini's business partner, released a statement Sunday on her death, saying: "Unfortunately, even with the brave efforts of her partner, local resort staff and doctors, Giulia couldn't be saved. We believe she died doing what she loved, in a place that she loved."

Manfrini was the co-founder of the AWAVE Travel agency along with Colston, and she served as head of surf resorts sales.

According to CBS News, Manfrini's death came just over a year after professional surfer Mikala Jones died in a surfing accident in the same region.

Jones, who was 44, had his femoral artery cut by his surfboard fin while he was surfing near the Mentawai Islands.

Kauli Vaast of France and Caroline Marks of the United States are the second-ever surfing gold medalists after winning in Tahiti on Monday.

Marks defeated Tatiana Weston-Webb of Brazil 10.50 to 10.33 in the women's gold-medal match while Vaast beat Australia's Jack Robinson 17.67 to 7.83 in their gold-medal meeting.

Gabriel Medina of Brazil came into the event as a favorite, but the waves didn't go his way and he was only able to put up one best wave score. Still, he found his way to the bronze-medal matchup, where he beat Peru's Alonso Correa.

The Olympic surfing semi finalists had a WHALE stop by. #ParisOlympics 🐋 pic.twitter.com/r14xWnLTm4

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 6, 2024

---

Women's Surfing Results

Gold: Caroline Marks (United States) def. Tatiana Weston-Webb (Brazil) 10.50 to 10.33

Bronze: Johanne Defay (France) def. Brisa Hennessy (Costa Rica), 12.66 to 4.93

---

Men's Surfing Results

Gold: Kauli Vast (France) def. Jack Robinson (Australia), 17.67 to 7.83

Bronze: Gabriel Medina (Brazil) def. Alonso Correa (Peru), 15.54 to 12.43

---

Though conditions were subpar through the semifinals and bronze-medal matches, the surf turned out to be somewhat favorable for the gold-medal matches.

That led to a big start for Vaast.

The Frenchman came out with a bang, scoring an 8.17 for his first wave before driving through a barrel to score a 9.50 to give him a score of 17.67 after just two waves. Needless to say, that made things comfortable for Vaast and put pressure on Robinson.

Robinson recorded a 7.83 with his first wave, which is a commendable score, but not quite what he needed to be on par with Vaast.

But the surf didn't cooperate with Robinson, and his first wave ended up being his only as time ticked away. Even if he had the chance to surf a few more waves, it's hard to imagine he could have matched or bested Vaast's score.

Vaast, 22, won his first Olympic medal with his performance on Monday, and it only makes it more special that he was able to do it in his native Tahiti.

Te fenua o te mau aito no te horue!
Kauli Vaast est champion Olympique de surf, chez lui, à Tahiti 🌸 Quelle performance en finale ! Quel tube !
-
Kauli Vaast is the Olympic surf champion, at home, in Tahiti 🌸 What a performance in the final! What a wave!#Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/uUO6gvPFOy

— Paris 2024 (@Paris2024) August 6, 2024

In the women's gold-medal match, things began very slow with neither surfer being able to find a wave they liked through the first 15 minutes or so.

A slow start quickly picked up in the final minutes of the match as favorable waves started coming for both Marks and Weston-Webb. The slew of waves led to the contest coming down to the final minutes.

Weston-Webb had an impressive run with around two minutes remaining and the judges had to make their scoring decisions as time ran out. With no time remaining, Marks could only wait to see if her score was enough, and it was as Weston-Webb scored a 4.50, leaving her just shy of the win.

Marks' best wave was a 7.50 and her second-best was a 3.00, while Weston-Webb's best was 5.83 with her second-best being a 4.50.

Caroline Marks wins GOLD in women’s surfing! This is the second-ever medal in surfing for Team USA. 🏄‍♀️🥇#ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/Ebqd6mwRzs

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 6, 2024

Marks fell just short of medaling in the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo, placing fourth overall. Now, three years, later she has her first medal, and it's gold.

Organizers have been criticized for the living conditions at the Olympic Village in Paris during the 2024 Summer Games, but the surfers seem to have lucked out.

According to TMZ Sports, Olympic surfers have been taking to social media to post videos and photos of the Aranui 5 luxury cruise ship they are staying on off the coast of Tahiti.

Surfers have started arriving in Teahupo'o, Tahiti, ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic surfing competitions, which will feature Tofino's Sanoa Dempfle-Olin.

There was a welcoming ceremony, and a cruise ship is serving as the Athletes' Village.

It will be quite the spectacle. pic.twitter.com/BglyZ70ame

— Ben Steiner (@BenSteiner00) July 22, 2024

Since the surfing competitions are taking place near the French Polynesian island of Tahiti, the surfers are not staying in Paris like most of the other Olympic athletes.

That has proved to be a major positive for the surfers, as they have been the beneficiaries of large beds and quality food, plus they have access to a bar, a dancing room, ping pong, foosball and even a tattoo parlor on the boat, per TMZ.

Conversely, most other Olympic athletes are dealing with living quarters that are lacking in terms of basic amenities.

American tennis star Coco Gauff posted a video on TikTok last week in which she divulged that 10 athletes had to share just two bathrooms:

LOL hopefully the ladies of the USA tennis team were warned that Coco was going to have them make TikToks! 😂 And we love seeing them! 😍❤️ pic.twitter.com/7d6phWNKWl

— LaWanda (@lawanda50) July 27, 2024

According to Nicholas McEntyre of the New York Post, Gauff said in the comments of her video that things had gotten slightly better since the rest of the American women's tennis players had relocated to a hotel, leaving her and four other athletes to share two bathrooms.

Another major issue in the Olympic Village is related to nutrition, as British Olympic Association Chief Executive Andy Anson said there is a dearth of eggs and meat, and that athletes were being served raw meat in some cases.

As a result, Great Britain hired a chef for its Olympians if they wanted to avoid eating at the dining hall, per Conor Murray of Forbes.

Of course, none of these problems have impacted the surfers, who are living their best life in paradise.

Gabriel Medina had quite the day on Monday.

Not only did the Brazilian surfer land an epic 9.90 score during one of his runs on the fifth heat of the Olympic surfing contest, the best score of the day, but he also provided sports fans with the best photo of the Paris Games to this point:

This shot of Gabriel Medina is ABSOLUTELY UNREAL 🤯 😱

( 📸: Jerome Brouillet) pic.twitter.com/4JQNI4olsi

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) July 29, 2024

Medina's overall score of 17.40 from Monday was third best, trailing only France's Joan Duru and countryman João Chianca. The two Brazilians will face off in the quarterfinals on Tuesday when the men's gold, silver and bronze medals will be decided.

The gold medal for best picture has already been awarded, however.

Surfer Mikala Jones died in a surfing accident Sunday in Indonesia.

He was 44.

Dr. John Jones, Mikala's father, told the Associated Press his son died when his surfboard fin cut his femoral artery while he was riding a wave in the Mentawai Islands.

Mikala Jones developed a large following on social media due to his breathtaking photographs, often featuring him surfing inside a wave. He had more than 50,000 Instagram followers at the time of his death.

"He was a humble artist. His pictures were incredible," John Jones told the AP.

Mikala Jones began taking pictures of himself surfing in the 1990s, first creating a makeshift camera for himself as he rode waves and then later switching to GoPro technology. The passion for surfing photography ran in the family, with John Jones previously taking pictures of surfers during the 1970s.

Mikala Jones is survived by his wife, Emma, and their two daughters, Bella and Violet.

Former pro surfer Blake Johnston made history and raised money for a good cause on Friday.

Per TMZ Sports, Johnston set a new Guinness World Record for the longest continuous surfing session at 40 hours to raise money to support the mental health of youth in Australia.

Johnston began his quest for history around 1 a.m. Australia time on Thursday, when he entered the water on the beach in Cronulla. He rode more than 600 waves in nearly two consecutive days before finally ending his journey around 5 p.m. local time on Friday evening.

According to David Wu of Australia's Sky News, Johnston said he felt "pretty cooked" at one point during his marathon session.

"We're so immensely proud of what he's done and what he is setting out to achieve. This is all about honoring the legacy of our amazing dad," Ben Johnston, Blake's brother, said to Sky News Australia's Peter Stefanovic (h/t Wu).

TMZ noted the 40-year-old Johnston teamed up with the Chumpy Pullin Foundation, co-founded by Ben Johnston, to raise money for the cause. The event has raised nearly $350,000 so far.

Per the foundation's official website, its mission is to provide mental health support, education, create community and make a positive difference for youth, marginalized communities, indigenous people and women in sports.

The previous record for the longest consecutive surfing session was 30 hours, 11 minutes, set by Josh Elsin of South Africa in 2016.

Brazilian surfer Márcio Freire died in the water Thursday off the coast of Nazaré, Portugal, per Reuters.

According to the local maritime authority in Nazaré, the 47-year-old was practicing tow-in surfing at the time. Support staff on jet skis were able to reach Freire and get him to the beach, but they were unable to revive him.

Nazaré, which is on the central coast of Portugal, is known for some of the world's biggest waves, helped formed by an underwater canyon three miles deep.

Though a number of surfing accidents have happened at Nazaré, maritime authorities told Euan Ward of the New York Times that Freire was the first surfer killed there. They also said that other than "characteristically big waves" conditions Thursday were "not out of the ordinary."

German surfer Sebastian Steudtner currently holds the world record for the biggest wave ever surfed when he topped an 86-foot wave at Nazaré.

Freire is best known as one of the subjects of the 2016 documentary Mad Dogs, which highlighted three Brazilian surfers who rode the "Jaws" wave in Hawaii.

The surf pioneer continued to travel the world in search of giant waves and he made an impact on many fellow competitors.

"Today we lost one of ours. Always had loads of respect for Márcio as one of the paddle pioneers at jaws," fellow pro surfer Nic von Rupp said in an Instagram story (via BBC News). "Today I saw him surf all day in Nazaré with a huge smile. With that smile is how I'm going to remember him."

Professional surfer Kalani David died Saturday after suffering a seizure while practicing.

"He was surfing when he apparently suffered some kind of epileptic seizure and drowned," Costa Rica's Judicial Investigation Agency said to the Associated Press (via NBC News). "The death is still under investigation."

According to the AP, the 24-year-old suffered from Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, a congenital heart condition that can cause seizures, paralysis and cardiac arrest.

Per Alexander Haro of The Inertia, David previously had a seizure while he was skateboarding in August 2016. He was placed into a medically induced coma for two days following another seizure at home in Hawai'i that December.

David quickly built a reputation for himself as both a surfer and a skateboarder. He won a gold medal in the under-16 group at the ISA World Junior Championships. He also competed in the 2012 Summer X Games in Los Angeles, placing 18th in skateboard park.

Legendary surfer Kelly Slater called David "one of the most talented surfers/skaters in the world" on social media.

"He was constantly pushing his limits," Slater said. "My condolences to the great family and friends that Kalani had on every beach around the world."

Kelly Slater isn't slowing down as he approaches age 50.

The surfing legend. who hits that milestone Friday, took home the Billabong Pro Pipeline event over the weekend, becoming the oldest winner of the event's history. Slater has won surfing's most prestigious event a record eight times, with the first coming all the way back in 1992. 

No other person has won the Billabong Pro Pipeline more than four times. 

Seth Moniz, a rising 24-year-old who wasn't even born the first time Slater won this event, finished in second. 

Now that he's proved he can beat the best of the next generation, Slater says he'll consider retirement from full-time surfing. He said he spoke to Tom Brady, who announced his retirement from football last week, in the aftermath of the 44-year-old quarterback's decision to walk away. 

“It would be interesting if that happened in the same week,“ Slater said, per Pat Graham and Eddie Pells of the Associated Press. “We’ll see how that goes. I’m contemplating whether I stop now or really go full bore this whole year, which would be, in my eyes, really for the fans and saying goodbye to everybody after all the years of support they’ve given me.”