French star surfs to world gold

pulse

May 22, 2017 9:08 AM

The 26-year-old scored 12.17 points for her best two waves on the world-renowned surf of Biarritz's Grande Plag.

France's Pauline Ado won women's gold at the World Surfing Games in Biarritz on May 21, 2017

Frances Pauline Ado won womens gold at the World Surfing Games in Biarritz on Monday ahead of teammate Johanne Defay.

The 26-year-old Ado -- who hails from nearby Hendaye on the southeastern French Basque coast -- scored 12.17 points for her best two waves on the world-renowned surf of Biarritz's Grande Plage and was held aloft by her teammates as she left the water.

Defay, 23, a native of the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion, scored 10.43 points. Costa Rica's Leilani McGonagle took bronze (8.4) with South Africa's Bianca Buitendag fourth (7.47).

The week long World Surfing Games conclude on Sunday and are the first since surfing was included as an Olympic sport in Tokyo 2020.

However, most of the superstars of the discipline are not competing in Biarritz as they are in action on the professional circuit.

pulse