While You Were Shopping: Carissa Moore Won the Surf World Title and Nabbed an Olympic Games Slot at the Lululemon Maui Pro

As if we don’t feel the Black Friday-through-Cyber Monday hangover enough, the Native Hawaiian from O‘ahu dominated in a shortened format in heavy storm surf while her top two rivals lost heartbreaker heats at Women’s Surf Championship Tour Lululemon Maui Pro at Honolua Bay. It’s Moore’s fourth world title.
Don Wallace,

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics Games has been rescheduled to begin July 23, 2021 and end Aug. 8, 2021. The Paralympic Games have also been moved to Aug. 24, 2021.

 

 

Already a member of the Surfers’ Hall of Fame as of 2014, O‘ahu’s Carissa Moore barreled her way into history at 9:45 a.m. Monday by winning her fourth World Surf League title, nailing down the top spot for Summer Olympics in Tokyo. The latter assures a Native Hawaiian will be in the games, fulfilling a dream of Olympic champion Duke Kahanamoku, who first proposed the idea.

 

Moore won her title two ways on Monday at the Lululemon Maui Pro. First, she dominated her quarterfinal against Australia’s Nikki Van Dijk, pulling into two thick tube rides and emerging to screams from the crowd on the beach and cliffs above Maui’s Honolua Bay. Moore’s 16.00 overall score was composed of the two 8.00 rides. Van Dijk managed 10.90 in a spirited challenge.

 

Next, as Moore withdrew and rested up for her semifinal, the next quarterfinal pitted Australia’s Stephanie Gilmore against Caroline Marks, a 17-year-old power phenom from Florida who was the only other surfer left in contention for the world title. Both Marks and Moore had nabbed the two U.S. women’s Olympic spots on Sunday when the third rival for the crown, Santa Barbara’s Lakey Peterson, lost a stunning heat to Australia’s Tyler Wright.

 

SEE ALSO: 11 Things Locals Need to Know About 2020’s First-Ever Olympic Surf Competition at the Tokyo Games

 

On Monday history repeated as seven-time world champ Gilmore slammed the door on Marks. With that result, the title was Moore’s, who waited, headphones on and burying her face in her hands, in a WSL tent. When the camera found her, and the horn sounded, pandemonium broke out.

 

Gilmore and Moore enjoyed a long hug after in full view of the crowd, setting a tone of celebration of women’s surfing over any individual’s achievement. After a round of hugs, interviews and screams while being carried aloft by her team, it was back to business for Moore. In a hotly contest semi later that morning, however, Gilmore cleanly bested Moore to move into the finals. In rapidly deteriorating surf, Gilmore went on an hour later to defeat Tyler Wright, 6.83 to 6.00—no karma needed, but a nice outcome nevertheless.   

 

The Lululemon Maui Pro failed to happen for days as waves weren’t forthcoming at Honolua Bay, a favorite right-hand spot of Moore. On Sunday, however, heavy storm surf and gray skies greeted the 7:30 a.m. starting horn. Instead of spreading the event out over three or four days, the WSL was forced by the forecast to make it happen in two. The powerful waves and fast tempo worked to Moore’s advantage on Sunday, as she won her first seeding round, allowing her to rest up for the round of 16. Her quarterfinal on Monday showed off her strategy as well as her unique affinity for Honolua Bay; she had more and bigger barrels than any competitor.

 

The Olympic spots for Moore and Marks were awarded on Sunday after Peterson was eliminated. Kaua‘i’s Tatiana Weston-Webb also won her way to an Olympic selection, for Brazil.

 

We covered Moore’s two-day run to the World Surf League title on Twitter @donwallace212, so if you want to see how it went down in real time here’s our feed:

 

This was a live blog, which was last updated on Monday, December 2 at 1 p.m. Please scroll to the bottom of the page and work your way up to start from the beginning.

 

Monday, December 2

Semifinals, Heat 2 with Stephanie Gilmore and Carissa Moore

 

 

 

Monday, December 2

Quarterfinals, Heat 4 with Caroline Marks and Stephanie Gilmore

 

 

 

 

Monday, December 2

Quarterfinals, Heat 3 with Carissa Moore and Nikki Van Dijk

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monday, December 2

Quarterfinals, Heat 1 with Tatiana Weston-Webb and Sally Fitzgibbons

 

 

 

 

 

Monday, December 2: The Quarterfinals are on

 

 

 

Sunday, December 1: Day 1 Comes to a Close

 

 

Sunday, December 1:

Round of 16, Heats 3 (Wright vs. Peterson), 5 (Moore vs. Macedo) and 7 (Marks vs. Ho)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday, December 1:

Elimination Rounds, Heats 1 (Caroline Marks, Keely Andrew and Summer Macedo) and 2 (Tyler Wright, Johanne Defay and Brisa Hennessy)

 

 

Sunday, December 1:

Seeding Round, Heat No. 3 with Carissa Moore, Coco Ho and Summer Macedo

 

 

 

 

Sunday, December 1:

Seeding Round, Heat No. 2 with Lakey Peterson, Silvana Lima and Tyler Wright

 

 

 

Sunday, December 1: Reading break

 

 

Sunday, December 1:

Seeding Round, Heat No. 1 with Caroline Marks, Nikki Van Dijk and Macy Callaghan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday, November 30: Still a no go

 

 

Wednesday, November 27: Until further notice …

 

 

Read more stories by Don Wallace

 

 

This article appears in the November 2019 issue of HONOLULU Magazine.

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