Carissa
Moore
United States
·
Surfing
Date of birth | 27 August 1992 |
|---|---|
Place of birth | Oahu, Hawaii |
Age | 33 |
Nationality | United States |
Career start | 2004 |
Disciplines | Surfing Competition |
Carissa Moore has been shaping the surfing scene for years. The five-time world champion took gold at surfing’s first-ever Olympic appearance and competed three years later in Paris while pregnant. Now juggling parenthood with competing against the world’s best, she is showing no signs of slowing down.
Named an Adventurer of the Year by National Geographic, a Woman of the Year by Glamour magazine and Top Female Surfer in the SURFER magazine poll numerous times, Moore was also inducted into the Surfers’ Hall of Fame at just 21 years of age, while the State of Hawaii declared January 4 to be Carissa Moore Day.
She's also put out impressive media appearances, including countless web edits and segments, and she starred in a documentary, Riss, that focused on body image issues.
Excelling from a young age
Moore discovered her love for surfing when she was five years old, while surfing with her dad off the beaches of Waikiki in her native Honolulu, Hawaii. “He loves the ocean, and he wanted to share that passion with me,” she says. “By the time I was 12, we had a more serious conversation, saying, ‘Is this something I really want to do?’ I knew it was going to be a lot of hard work, but I also knew it would be really fun.”
Moore started collecting wins at NSSA junior surf competitions and top spots at the ISA World Junior Surfing Championships, where she helped Hawaii win a team victory. In all, she clinched a record 11 NSSA amateur titles, and at age 16 in 2008, she became the youngest champion at a Triple Crown of Surfing event when she won the Reef Hawaiian Pro.
In 2010, Moore qualified for her first season on the ASP World Tour, now called the World Surf League. She won two major contests in that debut season, finished third overall, and was named Rookie of the Year. Not bad for a 17-year-old newbie.
Becoming the best in the world
The following season, Moore was the youngster to watch on the World Tour. She lived up to her reputation, winning three events and claiming her first World crown. At 18, she became the youngest person – male or female – to win a surfing world title.
Never one to turn down a challenge, that year Moore also became the first woman to compete in Oahu’s Triple Crown of Surfing, typically an all-male event featuring the world’s best surfers.
Moore retook top World Tour honours in 2013 and 2015. Then, after three quick titles within five years, finishing on the top step of the podium in both 2016 and 2017 required a certain mental adjustment, but she sees it as part of the journey.
“I’m definitely performance-driven, so I’m always wanting to improve. Every year I’m learning lessons, transforming as a person and as an athlete,” Moore says. Returning to her best form impressively in 2019, she surfed to victory at Jeffreys Bay and Hossegor on her way to a memorable fourth World Surf League title after a four-year gap.
The global situation in 2020 brought an enforced hiatus, but as soon as competition returned, Carissa was back to winning ways. She took victory at the Tokyo Games before moving on to seal her fifth world title at the inaugural Rip Curl WSL Finals at Trestles.
Striking the right balance
In 2023, Moore placed second in the World Surf League Championship Tour and the following year competed on the biggest stage once again at the Games in Paris. Following her performance in Teahupo'o in Tahiti,she announced that she was expecting and a few months later welcomed a daughter, Olena, into the world.
Forced to take a break from competition, it was just five months before Moore went surfing on the North Shore and decided that she wanted to return to the top competitive circuit.
“Competing at the highest level of surfing is something I don’t take for granted, and I’m so grateful to be feeling healthy and reinvigorated," Moore said in a post on social media. "I want my journey to show my daughter, and hopefully other women, that we can do anything; we can keep chasing our dreams, even as life evolves."
Young Carissa Moore, ready for the waves
© Chris Moore
At her happy place in Oahu, Hawaii
© Zak Noyle/Red Bull Content Pool
Carissa Moore sitting pretty in Tahiti
© Ben Thouard/Red Bull Content Pool
Relaxing at the Wings for Life World Run in Honolulu
© Asia Anderson for Wings for Life World Run