Carissa Moore made her pregnancy announcement via an edit posted to Instagram. Photo: Carissa Moore // Instagram
Carissa Moore is having a baby. The 2020 Olympic gold medalist and five-time world champion made the announcement today with an Instagram post, in which she and husband Luke Untermann were seen paddling together at sunset, accompanied by the Ellie Goulding cover of Elton John’s “Your Song.”
“Excited to catch the best wave of our lives…” she wrote in the caption, “the swell arrives February 2025.”
The news comes in the middle of a big year for Moore. In January, she announced she would be stepping away from the Championship Tour. “All those wins, the competitive part that’s so much of my identity, I’m taking that away, and I’m facing myself this year,” she told the New York Times. “And that’s scary. Like, who am I? Am I going to be OK? Will I be able to love myself and think that I’m worthy without this?”
The exception to Moore’s competitive hiatus (Moore never specifically used the word “retirement,” possibly leaving the door open for a Slater-like return) was her entry into the 2024 Paris Olympics. There, she defended her Tokyo gold medal with a valiant effort that ultimately ended in a quarterfinal loss against France’s Johanne Defay.
However, this most recent announcement made her Olympic performance all the more impressive. As one eagle-eyed fan pointed out in the Instagram comments, the February 2025 due date means that Carissa competed in Teahupo’o in the middle of her first trimester. Moore confirmed the observation with a “smiling face with hearts” emoji, followed by a “fist bump” emoji.
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