Interview: Carissa Moore On Her Decision To Stop Competing And 2024 Plans
Last week five-time world champion and Olympic gold medalist Carissa Moore sat down for an exclusive interview with Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation and shared when her plans to step away from competitive surfing actually became a reality, as well as how she intends to stay sharp for the 2024 Olympics in Tahiti this July.
The common misconception among surf pundits is that after losing the world title to Caroline Marks at the 2023 WSL Finals at Lowers Trestles, her second heartbreaking loss in the WSL Finals in as many years, she'd had enough and decided to walk away. In this interview Moore clarifies that her decision came before the 2023 Championship Tour season even kicked off.
"I actually made this decision prior to the start of the season last year," Moore says. "I think it didn't really sink in until the end of the tour last year."
But that's not all Moore shares. While much has been made that the upcoming Pipe Pro and 2024 Paris Games will be her last events, that's not exactly the case. Moore explains that she will be competing in the ISA World Surfing Games at the end of February, and has already received a wildcard into the Tahiti Pro in May, where she will be able to surf some heats at Teahupo'o before the Olympics later in the summer.
"I was really, really grateful to receive the wildcard to the Tahiti Pro in May, so I think that will be a nice stepping stone," Moore says. "And then I'm also doing the World Surfing Games in Puerto Rico at the end of February, so I have a few little benchmarks."
"In my head, the thing that I need the most to allow myself the best chance of success at the Olympics at the end of the year is to really just get comfortable at that wave," she adds.
Stay tuned for more of this interview will Moore as she offers her thoughts on Pipeline, her battles with eight-time world champ Stephanie Gilmore, and what's next for her life outside of competitive surfing.
5x World Champion Carissa Moore Stepping Away From Competitive Surfing
With more than 25 years of writing about surfing, the ocean and action sports, Jake Howard continues to share stories, profiles and issues that shape the surfing world. One of the premier subject-matter experts in the field today, he's savvy in the ways of print, digital and social media, his breadth of work is expansive. Getting his start writing Surfline surf reports and recording the phone reports for 976-SURF in the late '90s, Jake served as the managing editor for Surfer Magazine in the early 2000s before moving on to launch RedBullSurfing.com and cover surfing for ESPN and the X Games. Over the years, Jake has also enjoyed time behind the edit desk at The Surfer's Journal, as well as the World Surf League, where he worked as the Senior Editor for a number of years. Beyond producing editorial content, Jake has served as a digital marketer and copywriter for iconic surf brands such as Quiksilver, Roxy and Rip Curl. Writing thousands of pages of copy for Surfline, he has deep SEO experience as well. The surf columnist for the San Clemente Times, Jake continues to dedicate himself to the culture and history of the sport through his involvement with the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center in San Clemente.