Carissa Moore is on a streak that’s unmatched anywhere in competitive surfing right now. The numbers are impressive, to say the least.
Dating back to the J-Bay Open in 2018, as The Inertia Contributing Writer Ben Mondy pointed out, “she has surfed in 30 CT events. In all but six she made the semis or better (that means she’s made semis in 80 percent of her starts). Of those 24 semis, she progressed to the final 13 times, winning seven. That form led to two world titles, and it could be argued she had one denied her due to the pandemic in 2020. The last title was her fifth, captured at the inaugural WSL Finals. Lest we forget, during that run she also claimed surfing’s first Olympic gold medal in the delayed Tokyo games in 2021.”
That stat sheet was jotted down before Moore earned an equal third at this year’s J-Bay event, bowing out to event winner Tatiana Weston Webb thanks to a rare interference call in the women’s semifinal. And with just one more contest left on the 2022 docket before the Rip Curl WSL Finals, the defending champion is now 5,000 points ahead of world number two Johanne Defay . Well, 5,315 points, to be exact.
Why is that detail important? It means Carissa Moore just has to win a single heat at the upcoming Outerknown Pro in Tahiti, ending first in her opening-round draw, and she’ll secure the yellow jersey for Trestles. Even if she were to lose in the Elimination Round, Defay needs a win in order to make up the point difference and earn the top seed at the Rip Curl WSL finals.
The CT only has one WSL Finals Day under its belt, which isn’t a huge sample size to test out how much of an advantage top seeds have over the field, needing just two heat wins to earn a World Title. Both Gabriel Medina and Moore were top seeds going into the 2021 Finals Day and each came away with their two heat wins, and the yellow jerseys will probably be the favorite heading into this year’s event. In other words, Carissa Moore is just one heat at Teahupo’o away from a major head start on World Title number six.
