Pro Surfer Caroline Marks Is Going for Gold in Bright Blue Team USA One-Piece, Looking Forward to Semifinals

The athlete is gearing up for the final two rounds of Olympic surfing, which are set to take place this afternoon.

Caroline Marks / Aaron Hughes/Getty Images

The Paris Olympic women’s surfing competition has been riddled with delays, but two-time Olympian Caroline Marks isn’t letting that get her down.

For the 22-year-old, the 2024 games are a chance at redemption. Marks narrowly missed the podium at her debut Olympics in Tokyo three years ago, and has been itching for a medal ever since. From the looks of her performance at this year’s sporting event, which is taking place on the French Polynesian island of Tahiti, she is about as determined as ever.

Poor wave conditions forced Marks—the last remaining American in both the men’s and women’s surfing competition—to compete in both the Round 3 and the quarterfinals of the Paris surfing event on Aug. 1. And today, after the same problem pushed the semifinals to today, she will gear up for two separate head-to-head battles this afternoon.

At 2:12 p.m. ET, Marks will take on French surfer Johanne Defay in the semifinals of the surfing competition (which was supposed to take place on Aug. 3). A win will propel the young athlete to the gold medal match, set for 5:27 p.m. ET, and a loss will place her in the bronze medal match at 4:05 p.m. ET.

Heading into the last two rounds of competition, Marks is locked in. “It’s officially finals day tomorrow!” she wrote in the caption of an Instagram post yesterday. “So honored to represent the USA 🇺🇸 Thank you everyone for all the messages and support. I feel you with me.”

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The encouraging message accompanied an impressive montage of her surfing success in Tahiti. Dressed in the signature bright blue of Team USA, Marks has dominated on the way to the podium. Let’s hope she can continue to find success later today.