Carissa
Moore
United States
·
Surfing
Date of birth | August 27, 1992 |
|---|---|
Birthplace | Oahu, Hawaii |
Age | 33 |
Nationality | United States |
Career start | 2004 |
Disciplines | Surfing Competition |
When she was 5 years old, Carissa Moore started surfing with her dad off the beaches of Waikiki in her native Honolulu, Hawaii. “By the time I was 12, we had a more serious conversation, saying, ‘Is this something I really want to do?’ Carissa says. “I knew it was going to be a lot of hard work, but I also knew it would be really fun.”
She 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. She clinched a record 11 NSSA amateur titles, and at 16 in 2008, she became the youngest champion at a Triple Crown of Surfing event when she won the Reef Hawaiian Pro.
In 2010, Carissa qualified for her first season on the ASP World Tour, now called the World Surf League. She was named Rookie of the Year.
Carissa 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.
Carissa became the first woman to compete in Oahu’s Triple Crown of Surfing.
Carissa retook top World Tour honors in 2013 and 2015.
“I’m definitely performance-driven, so I’m always wanting to improve," Carissa says. “My goal is still to do well on the Tour – and a big objective is to compete out of a place where it’s not a roller coaster of emotions. I’ve learned a lot about how to lose and how to pick myself back up when things aren’t working.”
Returning to her best form impressively in 2019, Carissa surfed to victory at Jeffreys Bay and Hossegor on her way to a memorable fourth World Surf League title after a four-year gap.
She took victory in Tokyo at surfing's first-ever Olympic appearance before moving on to seal her fifth world title at the inaugural Rip Curl WSL Finals at Trestles.
She was inducted into the Surfers’ Hall of Fame at just 21 years of age, and the State of Hawaii declared January 4 to be Carissa Moore Day.
She starred in a documentary, Riss, that focused on her personal and professional life.
Outside of surfing and helping others, Carissa loves scrapbooking, chilling with her two dogs, snacking on sweet foods and keeping the world up to date with her adventures on her website and blog.