Carissa Moore Announces Return to WSL Championship Tour in 2026

Five-time world surfing champion Carissa Moore is set to make a highly anticipated return to the World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour in 2026. The Olympic gold medalist, who stepped away from full-time competition to start a family, will compete on a full-season wildcard.

Key Takeaways

• Carissa Moore, a five-time WSL champion and Olympic gold medalist, will return to the Championship Tour in 2026.
• She took a break from competition in January 2024 to focus on starting a family.
• Moore and her husband welcomed their daughter, ‘Olena, in February.
• She will compete on a full-season wildcard, starting at Bells Beach and concluding at the Pipe Masters.

A Champion’s Comeback

After welcoming her daughter, ‘Olena, in February, Carissa Moore has announced her return to the elite WSL Championship Tour for the 2026 season. The announcement comes nine months after she stepped away from professional surfing in January 2024 to focus on her growing family. Moore, a celebrated figure in the sport, expressed her excitement about rejoining the tour.

"I’m really excited for the opportunity to compete again on the Championship Tour,” Moore stated in a WSL release. “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.”

A Legacy of Consistency

Before her hiatus, Moore was widely recognized as one of the most consistent performers in CT history. Throughout her career, she achieved 28 wins in 122 CT events and rarely finished outside the top three in her 13 seasons. Her peak came in 2021 when she secured her fifth WSL world title and the inaugural Olympic gold medal at the Tokyo Games. Despite strong performances in subsequent years, she narrowly missed out on world titles in 2022 and 2023 due to the now-scrapped WSL Finals format.

The 2026 Season

Moore, 33, will be granted a full-season wildcard, allowing her to participate in all CT events. The tour kicks off with the season opener at Bells Beach in Victoria, Australia, on April 1, and will culminate with the Pipe Masters on Oahu’s North Shore in December. The WSL has also announced changes to the tour format for 2026, including the restoration of Pipeline as the end-of-season event, a format Moore previously won in 2021.

Sources

• Carissa Moore to return to WSL Championship Tour in 2026, Spectrum News.