Ferreira, who learned to surf standing on the foam box his father sold fish from, snapped his board on the first wave and had to wait in the sea for a replacement.

But he recovered to score 15.14 to Igarashi’s 6.60 at Tsurigasaki Beach, around 100km east of Tokyo.

Igarashi had shocked world No 1 Gabriel Medina in the semifinals, landing a stunning aerial move late in the contest to beat the Brazilian.

But the Japanese rider, whose father grew up surfing at the same beach, could not find a way past an imperious Ferreira in the final, as the 2019 world champion added the first-ever Olympics surfing gold medal to his collection.

Australia’s Owen Wright beat Medina to claim the bronze.

In the women’s final, American world No 1 Carissa Wright was set to face off against unheralded South African Bianca Buitendag for the gold.

Japan’s Amuro Tsuzuki beat Caroline Marks of the US in the bronze-medal match.

The medal events – originally scheduled to take place tomorrow – were moved forward to today to take advantage of favourable wave conditions.