WSL/Sloane

Carissa Moore (HAW), the five-time World Champion and Olympic Gold Medalist, announced today that she will return to the World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour (CT) in its 50th year. Moore has been awarded the WSL CT Season Wildcard, which will grant her entry into full-time competition on the 2026 CT, which starts in Australia on April 1, 2026.

WSL/Nolan

“I’m really excited for the opportunity to compete again on the Championship Tour,” said Moore. “To put my jersey back on after having a baby feels like such a win. Competing at the highest level of surfing is something I don’t take for granted, and I’m so grateful to be feeling healthy and reinvigorated. I want my journey to show my daughter, and hopefully other women, that we can do anything; we can keep chasing our dreams, even as life evolves. I’m looking forward to sharing this next chapter with her and experiencing it together as a family.”

Arriving on the Championship Tour in 2010, having already won her first CT event as a wildcard the previous season, Moore’s unique blend of power and progression translated to immediate success. Three Finals and two wins in her rookie year saw her finish No. 3 in the world at just 17 years old, easily earning her the Rookie of the Year title. One year later, at 18, she claimed her first World Title, the youngest surfer in history to do so at that time.

The CT’s most consistent performer in history, Moore finished lower than No. 3 on the rankings just once across her 13 seasons on Tour, and won an incredible 28 of the 122 CT events she competed in. In the two years leading up to her departure in 2024, she entered the WSL Finals as the No. 1 seed, finishing runner-up on both occasions.

A true ambassador of Aloha, Moore’s warmhearted nature was evident from the beginning. Early in her rookie season, she donated the prize money from her first CT win of the year to the local boardriders club in New Zealand, where the event was held. That giving spirit remains central to her life and career, especially through the Moore Aloha Foundation, which provides resources, mentorship, and empowerment for the next generation of surfers.

WSL/Bielmann

Moore’s final appearance on the international competitive stage before her break came at the Paris 2024 Olympics, where she surfed one of the world’s heaviest waves while two months pregnant and still placed in the Quarterfinals.

The newly redesigned Championship Tour will see Moore kick off her 2026 season in Bells Beach, starting April 1, 2026, and will see her finish the season on the North Shore of Oʻahu at the world-renowned Pipe Masters in December 2026.

For more information, please visit WorldSurfLeague.com.

WSL/ Thiago Diz

WSL/ Heff