Wouldn't this be a special way to welcome surfing to the Olympic Games?
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
All four Australian surfers - Sally Fitzgibbons, Steph Gilmore, Owen Wright and Julian Wilson - have advanced to the knockout stages.
Fitzgibbons and Gilmore are among the favourites to claim gold in the women's tournament, opening the door for an all-Australian final.
"That'd be amazing," Gilmore said.
"Sally is an incredible surfer, and Julian and Owen, we've been working hard to make sure that we've shown up here in prime condition. We all feel great and are supporting each other.
"We're just trying to enjoy the experience. This is really such a trip to be here at the Olympics. It can feel a little bit disjointed from the main Village and stuff, but we went up there the other day and really got to feel all the inspiration of all the amazing athletes up there.
"Sally and I are fired up. Hopefully, we can meet in the final - that would be great. But the Americans are hard to beat."
Gilmore opens proceedings at 7am on Monday in her round three battle with South African Bianca Buitendag, while Fitzgibbons faces France's Pauline Ado in heat eight at 11.12am.
Wilson has a massive task ahead as he prepares to battle Brazil's Gabriel Medina in the knockout stages at 1.36pm, while Wright closes the day against France's Jeremy Flores at 4pm.
Gilmore dominated her heat with a score of 14.50 to bypass the repechage and head into tomorrow's action, just as Fitzgibbons did before her.
Wright moved straight through to the third round after the Australian took out a tight heat which saw two-time world champion John John Florence relegated to Sunday afternoon's sudden-death second round.
Wilson moves into the knockout stages after a tough morning, winning his way through to the final 16 via a third-place finish in the repechage with a score of 11.27.
Officials are keeping a close eye on the threat of a typhoon which could force a number of events to be rescheduled, but Gilmore says it's a welcome sign for the surfers.
"There's actually a lot of opportunities out there because the typhoon has brought in a bit of swell," Gilmore said.
"With this wind, it actually sort of breaks up the waves, and it allows the surfers to kind of move around the line-up and get more opportunities, which is actually a good thing."
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark canberratimes.com.au
- Download our app
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram