Surfing
Surfing
Sierra Kerr: Get to know Australian surfing's brightest young star
Sierra Kerr grew up in the shadows of greatness. Now aged 19, the 2023 WSL World Junior Champion is ready to put her own name up in lights on surfing's greatest stage.
Australian surfer Sierra Kerr has lived a life that most surfers take decades to experience. With father Josh Kerr, an airshow world champion turned WSL Championship Tour veteran, Kerr grew up surrounded by elite competition and developed her surfing under the influence of the world's best, without even realizing it.
As she enters adulthood, Kerr's life sits at an interesting intersection. After growing up in surfing Hollywood, she's now one of the leading ladies in a generation that's hellbent on reshaping the women's game and proving to the world that dreams really can come true.
Kerr's resume includes winning a WSL World Junior Championship, four Stab High victories on four completely different playing fields, and international recognition as one of the most technically advanced young surfers on the planet. Despite her stacked highlight reel, she's also had to navigate serious health challenges, which have reshaped her perspectives and left her hungry to maximize both her talent and every opportunity that comes her way.
Sierra Kerr, eyes on the future
© Anna Kucera/Red Bull Content Pool
What emerges when talking to Kerr is a portrait of a young athlete who's lived an incredibly rounded upbringing by circumstance more than design. Competition, creativity and resilience have all come early – in tandem with a love of her craft and a loyalty to her friends. To say surfing is Sierra Kerr's life would be selling her short, but surfing has already shown her the world while still in her teens, and will continue to shape her everyday existence for years to come. Let's investigate further.
01
Kerr's life with two passports
Although she grew up in America, Kerr has considered herself Australian for as long as she can remember. "It's always felt like home," says the proud member of the Snapper Rocks Boardriders.
While much of Kerr's childhood unfolded in California – mother Nikki is from Carlsbad in San Diego – and living in the United States shaped Kerr's identity in lowkey ways, her accent is far less understated.
"It changes depending on who I'm around," she says. "But the best thing is when a random American asks if I'm Aussie because of my accent, as most of my American mates are so used to it that they play it down."
In her early years, surfing sat a distant fourth on Kerr's list of favorite sports, behind golf, skateboarding and, surprisingly, rugby.
"Everyone definitely knew I was an Aussie on the rugby field," she laughs. "My Dad used to play, but it was more because my two best friends played that I wanted to. Early on it was touch, but as soon as I could play full contact and tackle I did that – and loved it."
Snapper Rocks, Gold Coast Pro HQ
© Cait Miers/World Surf League
While time abroad strengthened Kerr's connection to Australia, it was return trips to the Gold Coast, where Josh Kerr comes from and Sierra was born, that served as regular reminders of where she felt most grounded.
"Australia's surf culture, lifestyle and energy just fitted me," she says. "We moved back to Queensland when I was 12 or 13 and I remember having so much fun that summer. There was really good sand at Snapper, great waves and such a core crew of groms that I could run out and surf with in warm water. Mates whenever I wanted. It was game-changing."
02
Finding her feet
"I don't actually remember the first time I stood up on a surfboard," says Kerr. "I've just heard the stories. Dad had me on the front of his board when I was still in diapers, but I would have been five or so, at Turtle Bay in Hawaii, when I first actually caught a wave by myself."
While Kerr doesn't remember her first wave, the feelings that came with it have never left her. Being in the ocean, sharing waves and spending time with her father were her everyday life, long before thoughts of competition or ambition entered the picture. "Learning to surf wasn't like learning something new," she says. "Surfing was just what we did.'
03
Under her father's influence
Growing up with front row seats to the Josh Kerr Show, Sierra Kerr was afforded a money-can't-buy education in every aspect of surfing and the surf industry. While Josh started his career as a ratbag on the airshow circuits of the late 1990s and early '00s, as he matured and became more rounded as a person, so did his competitive act, culminating in a decade spent mixing it with the best on the WSL Championship Tour.
Josh Kerr sends one to the skies
© Ryan Miller
A finalist at the Pipe Masters and Margaret River Pro, Kerr also won a Big Wave World Tour event in Todos Santos in 2016, before getting chaired across the sands of the North Shore after announcing his retirement from competition in 2017.
"My favorite surfer is definitely dad," says Kerr. "I watch him every day, so I’m constantly inspired, and always confused by how good he is. He’s the best dad more than he’s the best surfer, though. Surfing's just something we enjoy doing together. Some kids have a parent who takes them to throw a baseball around, I was just lucky that my dad took me to the beach instead."
The family that surfs together, stays together. Sierra and Josh Kerr
© Aaron Hughes/World Surf League
Dad has never pushed me. He and mum will always give advice, but ultimately it’s me who makes the big decisions
Post-CT career, Josh Kerr has proven himself as a shrewd businessman, first as an investor in Saint Archer Brewing Co. and Balter Brewing, before later going on to found Draft Surfboards. Along the way he even partnered up with Red Bull to pay tribute to his early airshow days and create the incredible Red Bull Airborne series, which ran in 2018 and 2019.
Although Sierra watched her Dad's career closely, she has always maintained agency over her own: "Dad has never pushed me. He and mum will always give advice, but ultimately it's me who makes the big decisions."
3 min
Vaughan Deadly's Red Bull Airborne explanation
Vaughan Deadly finds out more about Red Bull Airborne ahead of the third stop in Hossegor, France.
The same goes when it comes to coaching: "Dad will give me some tips sometimes, but generally we just go and surf together for fun." In 2024, while traveling with Sierra on the WSL Qualifying Series, Josh not only helped his daughter graduate to the Challenger Series, but did the same himself after entering the events purely because he was at them. This has never been done before and likely will never be done again. Talented bunch, the Kerrs.
04
The WSL Championship Tour: Sierra Kerr's playground
The WSL Championship Tour athlete zone was Sierra Kerr's childhood hangout, as she spent days on end wearing a wristband, behind the velvet rope and watching Dad compete. "I was born into it," she laughs. "I know exactly what it's like to be on tour and do all the traveling that comes with it. It's a dream."
"I think, however, you grow up is your version of normal, until you grow up a bit more and realize that everyone has different lives," says Kerr. "To me, there was nothing out of the ordinary about being friends with all the competitors. When we were traveling, they were the people I'd hang out with."
Gold Coast royals Stephanie Gilmore and Sierra Kerr share a moment
© Cait Miers/World Surf League
Kerr grew up watching elite athletes operate at close range. The intensity of competition. The focus needed under pressure. The physical preparation that happens long before anyone paddles out. Travel schedules, training windows, judging towers, sponsor obligations and much more were everyday elements of life, long before she imagined basing her own around the same sport.
Figures like Jordy Smith, Stephanie Gilmore and Coco Ho were not faraway heroes, they were friends. "I'd hang out with Steph and Jordy, you name it. I didn't think of any of them as famous people, they were just people I'd talk to and who Dad would compete against. I was on the Roxy team for a while, so Caroline Marks and all of those girls were super nice and have always looked out for me."
"I'm still friends with all of them and if we come up against each other, I try to keep everything separate. You're not really going up against your friends, you're competing. What happens between the hooters stays between the hooters, then as soon as the horn goes you're friends again."
05
The Pink Helmet Posse
Although not the most fearsome name for a brat pack, The Pink Helmet Posse of 10 years ago meant business. "It was so fun,” says Kerr, of her skateboarding girl gang, who became minor YouTube celebrities. "My best friend back then was Bella Kenworthy and I’d hang out and skate with her and Rella Murphy, and we'd be on TV and all that. I really enjoyed it."
Sessions at the local skatepark were energetic, competitive and collaborative, and showed Kerr the kind of path she'd like to keep following in all walks of life.
"We were always together," says Kerr. "Surfing, skating, traveling. We just wanted to keep getting better and trying new things. We were just going to the skate park with our friends, maybe doing a contest or two and maybe getting filmed. It was like anytime you got to a skate park, just with more people saying hi and more cameras around."
06
Sierra Kerr and the next generation
Kerr sees herself as part of a powerful generational shift in women’s surfing, alongside world champions Caroline Marks, Caitlin Simmers and Molly Picklum, skateboarding phenom and surfer Sky Brown, and even fellow Pink Helmet Posse alumna Bella Kenworthy, who qualified for the 2025 Championship Tour.
"We talk a lot amongst ourselves about how much women's surfing is progressing," says Kerr. "We've watched the guys for so long, and we’re at the point now where we’re like, 'that’s possible for us too'. We’re just laughing all the time. Someone does something sick, the next person wants to do something even better."
While progression is collaborative, the ambitions of Kerr’s peer group extends beyond themselves. They’re not only keen to rewrite the rules, but leave the door open for the generation after as well.
Aussies Milla Brown and Isla Huppatz, and Tahitian teenage phenom Tya Zebrowski are just a few of the younger names on the horizon, ready to keep working on the foundations laid by Sierra Kerr and company. "It feels like we're building something bigger than ourselves," says Kerr, with a grin.
I take more satisfaction from a good wave in a freesurf than I do from one in a heat. People expect those.
07
Competition, filming and friendship
While points and accolades matter deeply to Kerr, they exist alongside two equally important creative outlets: filming and friendship.
"I love competing, but I also love surfing with my friends and working on video parts. They both bring something different.
"I take more satisfaction from a good wave in a freesurf than I do from one in a heat. People expect those. You wanna hear those eights and nines get read out, so it's not really the craziest feeling when you get them, unlike if you get the wave of your life - hopefully with some mates in the channel cheering you on."
As for filming, watch this space. Kerr dropped the mind-blowing 18-minute PreKerrsor a year ago to rave reviews and promises there's much more where that came from. "There's a Red Bull women's movie on the horizon," she says, dropping a hint about an upcoming super project you'll want to keep an eye out for. "I'm also looking to put out a few more standalone clips and then see if I can’t wrap a movie part up before the year is through, too."
08
The house that progression built
Kerr's competitive record already reflects a dedication to pushing the limits. While her 2023 WSL and ISA World Junior Championship wins, alongside a number of QS and pro junior victories, indicate she has her heat strategy sorted, four consecutive Stab High victories also confirm Kerr as one of the most progressive aerial surfers of her generation.
"In the ocean, if there's a section, you just have to send it"
© Jimmicane/Stab
Sierra Kerr claims another Stab High, gets chaired up by the world champ
© Ryan Heywood/Stab
Whether competing in the Indian Ocean at Lakey Peak, or tasting chlorinated success in Texas, Japan and Australia, when the pressure builds, Kerr soars.
Her last win was just a few months ago, in Sydney. "There was a packed crowd and every time you walked back people were talking to you and high-fiving," says Kerrs. "It was definitely one of the coolest vibes at a contest I've been to and I was so excited to be able to perform in front of them all."
Back in the ocean, Kerr's perfect 10 at the Nias Pro a couple of years ago speaks for itself. "The waves were cooking and we were getting barreled off our heads,” she says. "It’s nice to get stand-tall pits in a heat. I'll remember that one for a while."
09
Hurdles and hardships
In 2025, Sierra Kerr's life seemed to be on track, until suddenly it wasn't. "I woke up one morning and my hands were on fire," she says. "Over the next few weeks things kept getting worse. I had stomach issues, my head was sore, my legs and back. It got to the point where I couldn't really walk or stand, and I ended up in hospital."
The next six months saw doctors unable to pinpoint exactly what was going wrong. "At first they thought I had Guillain-Barré Syndrome, so I went down that path for six months, with lots of highs and lows and struggles and mini wins. Eventually, I was found to have Lyme Disease, and since then they've started to be able to figure it all out. I'm doing lots of treatments and most people are able to make a full recovery, but I wouldn't wish what I've been through on anyone."
To say Kerr's health challenges have put things in perspective would be an understatement of the highest order. Despite it all, she's been able to take positives from her ordeal, and has been very public about her health battles, in the hope that she can help others who are struggling.
"If I didn’t have the support that I do from family, friends, even Surfing Australia, I don't know if I'd be able to come back from this," she says. "But I think it's cool to be able to share what I've gone through, to hopefully help others find their support systems too."
10
Where to next for Sierra Kerr?
Sierra Kerr looks to the future in Fiji
© Aaron Hughes/World Surf League
Despite her young age Kerr's goals are simple. "Be one of the best surfers of all time," she says, matter-of-factly. "Winning a couple of world titles would be cool, but I also want to do stuff that's never been done before, and push the sport."
Out of the water, Kerr's goals are more relatable to the average mortal. "Hopefully, I can just always be the best version of myself and inspire everyone around me. I'd love to be that person who, when they leave the room, everyone else will say their lives are better for having had you around."
