Kauli
Vaast
France
·
Surfing
Date of birth | February 2, 2002 |
|---|---|
Birthplace | Vaira'o, Tahiti |
Age | 23 |
Nationality | France |
Career start | 2019 |
Disciplines | Surfing Competition |
Living a stone’s throw from Tahiti's most notorious reef pass of Teahupo'o, it wasn't long before Kauli Vaast was earning his stripes at French Polynesia's most famed and fearsome wave. This baptism of fire set the goofyfooter up for surfing success, and Kauli's been travelling the globe and winning events since the grand old age of eight, honing his incredible small wave game in Europe, before returning home to continue to sharpen up his ferocious talent when conditions get heavy.
A three-time WSL European Junior Champion (2017, 2019 and 2020), Kauli is now a fixture on the WSL Challenger Series, with the Championship Tour in his sights, as well as a hunger to continue on his path to recognition as one of Teahupo'o's all time greats.
Kauli got his first shot at a WSL Championship Tour event in 2019 at Teahupo'o, in the Tahiti Pro. Then 17, the local wildcard threaded a series of insane tubes to put the world on notice of his talent, before he was finally knocked out by one of his heroes and countrymen, Jeremy Flores. In 2022 Kauli would go a few rounds further, surfing his way to the final before finishing second, in just his second ever Championship Tour event.
On top of all of this, Kauli also followed in the footsteps of Flores and fellow Tahitian Michel Bourez by surfing for France in the Olympics. It's fair to say things couldn't have gone much better: with Paris 2024's surfing contest held at Teahupo'o, Vaast made every minute of his experience pay. Cheered on by chants of 'Kauli, Kauli' from the local support, he held off the challenge of Australia's Jack Robinson in the final to clinch the gold medal.
"I'm proud to say that surfing was born in Polynesia, and this means a lot for me." he said after the win. "The dream came true. I hope this will be a source of inspiration to the youth of Tahiti."