Jack lands silver medal, while Kennedy eyes gold

Margaret River’s own Jack Robinson has claimed a silver medal for Australia in the final of the men’s surfing competition at the 2024 Olympics.

Robinson secured his spot against local Kauli Vaast in the gold medal match in Tahiti, after earlier defeating three-time world champion Gabriel Medina (BRA).

The decider saw him fall 17.67 to 7.83 in the decider to Vaast, who grew up kilometres from Teahupo’o and the wave the pair were riding on Tuesday morning.

Vaast found the best waves of the final, landing a huge 9.50 ride as well as an 8.17.

Robinson returned with a 7.83 with 25 minutes left, but underwhelming wave options and a target of 9.84 left the West Aussie with little opportunity to catch the local favourite.

Robinson also produced the one of the highest-scoring waves of the Olympics – a 9.87 barrel ride during an early heat.

With his silver medal, Robinson produced Australia’s best result in Olympic surfing, following Owen Wright’s third placing in the first surfing event ever at the Tokyo 2021 Games.

Busselton pole vaulter and reigning world champion Nina Kennedy booked a spot in Wednesday night’s final, with several big names crashing out of the competition while the South West athlete held her nerve.

Kennedy only needed to vault twice for first-up clearances at 4.40m and 4.55m, securing her position in the final alongside USA’s Katie Moon, who famously shared the podium with the Aussie champion in the world championship final in 2023.

“I did what I had to do,” she said.

“You know, the qualifying is always a tricky one.

“You want to give it the respect it deserves, and you want to jump well, while trying to maintain some physical energy and emotional energy for the final. So it’s a tricky one.”

Playing in the Australian Men’s hockey team, Kookaburras captain and Margaret River raised Aran Zalewski had a heartbreaking loss as their campaign crashed out in a 2-0 quarter-final defeat to the Netherlands.