Hawaiian surfer Carissa Moore, who for years dominated on the elite World Tour and made history clinching the first-ever surfing gold medal for Team USA, has announced she is stepping away from competitive surfing.
The announcement from the World Surf League about the 31-year-old surfer’s decision comes just before the start of the Lexus Pipe Pro, in which she will still compete on her home sand at the North Shore of Hawaii. She has also been given a wildcard spot to compete in the Tahiti Pro and plans to still compete in the Paris Olympic Games this summer at Teahupo’o in Tahiti to defend her medal.
Moore joined the World Tour in 2010 as an 18-year-old rising star following a record-breaking amateur career, but said she is ready for her next chapter.
“I’m excited to see what else there is, outside the jersey,” Moore said. “I don’t like the word retirement. I like to say a departure from the tour, or just stepping back, or switching gears, or, like, evolving.”
Moore is no stranger to Southern California. She was a regular at the National Scholastic Surfing Association in Huntington Beach and Lower Trestles as a youngster during her rise to become one of the world’s best.
Her skills were apparent early on, at age 11 in 2004 she became the youngest surfer ever to win the National Open Women’s division. She earned a record 11 NSSA national championships through the years, a record in tact today.
NSSA Executive Director Janice Aragon said she remembers the first time seeing Moore compete at the national championships in 2003 as a 10 year old with an “ear-to-ear beaming smile.”
“It was obvious to me that Carissa possessed a skillset and technique well beyond her years,” Aragon said.
Moore competed regularly at the US Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach through the years and for the last two years has been runner up at the WSL Finals at Lower Trestles, clinching the world title at the surf spot just south of San Clemente in…
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