Kauai’s Tatiana Weston-Webb of Brazil settled for a silver medal in women’s surfing after losing to Caroline Marks of the United States in a dramatic final heat Monday in the Paris Olympics at Teahupo’o, Tahiti.

Weston-Webb needed a wave of 4.68 points when she caught one in the final two minutes that she took all the way into the reef before finally giving up.

She couldn’t quite barrel the wave but managed to make a few turns. The horn sounded to end the heat before the score was announced. Weston-Webb was eventually given a 4.50 for her final wave, resulting in a total score of 10.33, falling .17 points short of Marks, who finished with a 10.50.

Marks gave the United States a gold medal winner for the second straight Olympics after Punahou alumna Carissa Moore won the inaugural surfing event held in Tokyo.

France’s Kauli Vaast gave the host country gold in the men’s surfing contest, beating Australia’s Jack Robinson 17.67 to 7.83 in the final.

Robinson, who eliminated Haleiwa’s John John Florence in the third round, earned silver. Brazil’s Gabriel Medina won bronze.

In the semifinals held earlier Monday, Weston-Webb knocked out Costa Rica’s Brisa Hennessy, with help of a penalty.

Weston-Webb took advantage of an interference penalty called when Hennessy dropped in on a wave in front of Weston-Webb, costing Hennessy all the points in her second scoring wave. With only one wave counting toward Hennessy’s total score, Weston-Webb beat Hennessy, who moved to Oahu when she was 9 years old, 13.66 to 6.17.

Weston-Webb scored a 5.30 on a wave with 10 minutes remaining in the heat to push her total score over 10, effectively ending the heat since Hennessy couldn’t catch her with one wave. She then scored the highest wave score of the day with an 8.33.

Marks advanced after defeating France’s Johanne Defay. The two surfers finished with identical 12.17 scores, but Marks moved on to the gold medal final because she had the highest individual scoring wave.

Defay, who eliminated Carissa Moore in the quarterfinals, ended up with the bronze, defeating Hennessy 12.66 to 4.93.

In the men’s competition, the 22-year-old Vaast, who grew up in Tahiti’s Teahupo’o and has caught some of the best waves of all-time at the perfect reef pass, quickly established dominance and never gave it up, sparking celebrations on spectator boats in the channel and on shore.

“The dream came true. I can’t believe it right now, but I just made history — for me, for all Tahitians, for Polynesia and France,” Vaast said, adding that he had lost his voice screaming back at local fans as he did a victory lap on a personal watercraft.

“A lot of people surf and it’s part of our culture. … I’m proud to say that surfing is born in Polynesia, so it means a lot for me.”

As Vaast collected his gold medal, a rooster — a symbol of France — ran around the presentation area and a Polynesian conch shell was blown.

After Teahupo’o delivered the greatest day of Olympic surfing competition last week, waves for the morning of finals day failed to live up to expectations, with infrequent swells and tricky winds.

But conditions improved as the day progressed and the men’s final was held in clean, overhead barrels at “The End of the Road,” as Teahupo’o is also known.

Robinson looked like the man to beat after knocking out Medina and Florence in earlier rounds, but the West Australian, who employs meditative breathing techniques and named his first son Zen, could not will another wave to come and had to settle for silver.

Waves were infrequent for the women’s final too, with a flurry at the end almost giving Weston-Webb enough to snatch victory from Marks. The Brazilian came up just short.