Extreme weather halts Olympic surfing in Tahiti: rescheduling announced

The Olympic surfing competition at Teahupo'o, Tahiti, was put on hold on Wednesday due to challenging weather conditions following a storm.

Organisers plan to resume the competition at 7 am (1700 GMT) on Thursday, beginning with the women’s round three and aiming to progress into the quarter-finals for both men and women.

Teahupo'o, known for its formidable waves, provided excellent surfing conditions during the men's round three on Monday. However, strong winds disrupted the event and continued through Tuesday, making it difficult for surfers to compete safely. Wednesday highlighted the difficulties of predicting weather and wave conditions on a remote South Pacific island.

With the competition schedule under pressure, organisers initially considered sending the women's round three competitors out into the 15-foot stormy surf. However, they soon reconsidered and decided to cancel the day's events, creating anticipation for when the competition could resume and the medals could be decided.

Running a partial competition on Wednesday could have allowed for the event to conclude and medallists to be crowned by Thursday, which is expected to have the most favourable conditions remaining in the waiting period, which ends on Monday. With only one and a half days left for the competition, it is more probable that the event will finish over the weekend, though this is not guaranteed.

Kevin Wallis, head of forecasting at Surfline.com, the company collaborating with the Olympic surf organisers, stated that a repeat of Monday's excellent conditions is unlikely.

"In a perfect world, you get four really great days of surf like we had on Monday morning, but that doesn't always happen," Wallis explained to Reuters during Tuesday's competition break. "We've been super lucky so far. We've had two and a half days of anywhere from good to unbelievably all-time good in the case of Monday morning. So I would just look whether we get anything more like that the rest of the waiting period - probably not - but we've got a day-and-a-half to finish. We've got to try and find the best day-and-a-half left in the waiting period."

When surfing resumes, the women’s round three will feature Australian world champion Tyler Wright facing Israel’s Anat Lelior, while local favourite Vahine Fierro will compete against her compatriot Johanne Defay in the second heat.

The men’s quarter-finals will also see intense competition, with France’s Kauli Vaast meeting Joan Duru, Brazil’s Joao Chianca facing Gabriel Medina, and Australia’s Ethan Ewing challenging Jack Robinson for a place in the semi-finals.