Caroline Marks, carried off after winning her first world title. Photo: Serena Lutton
Caroline Marks has been turning heads since her grom days. At 15, she became the youngest person to ever qualify for the Championship Tour. It seemed it was only a matter of time until she won a world title. Over the years, Marks was consistently one of the top surfers on tour but last year, she mysteriously disappeared due to undisclosed health issues. This year, she came back better than ever and at the WSL Finals she went head to head against her longtime hero Carissa Moore.
Ultimately, the 21-year-old from Florida was victorious, actualizing her lifelong goal of becoming a world champion. We caught up with Marks after it all sank in and asked her about her roots as a Florida farm girl, what it was like kicking off her pro career so young, and her goal of winning an Olympic gold medal.
You’re a self-proclaimed farm girl. What did your life look like before surfing?
We grew up in Florida and I’m one of six kids. I loved animals and used to want to be a veterinarian and I started riding horses. I think I got into horseback riding because my brothers rode dirt bikes. I thought it was kind of the same thing but I was riding an animal and they were riding a machine. I was a barrel rider and I used to compete. I loved it and I never really thought I’d do anything else.
How did you go from farm girl to surfer?
I remember my grandpa told me he wanted to buy me a horse and I looked at him and I was like ‘no way, I want to be a surfer.’ My older brothers liked surfing, so I wanted to do what they thought was cool and that was surfing. So that’s how I went from farm girl to surf girl.
Photo: Serena Lutton
What role have your brothers played in your surfing journey?
They’re all down at the beach at pretty much all of the contests. They’re like my biggest support, which is really cool. They kind of started this entire journey, which is crazy to think about. If it wasn’t for them, maybe I’d still be riding horses.
You were the youngest person to ever compete on the CT. What was it like kicking off your pro career so young?
Before I qualified, I got a wildcard into Lowers at 14 and now that’s where I won my first world title. It’s pretty crazy how it all happens. The year I qualified it wasn’t my goal that year to qualify, I was just doing the Challenger Series events to get experience, travel the world, surf different waves, and just have some fun. And then all of a sudden, I was in that qualifying position and I wasn’t even signed up for the last event.
My dad said we should just go and see what happens and then all of a sudden I made the final and ended up qualifying. It was definitely a big conversation with my family and coaches to figure out if it was something I really wanted to do because it’s full on and once you make the tour you want to be on for as long as possible. It was my dream, so I decided to go for it.
Photo: Serena Lutton
A lot of people feel like you winning a title feels like a long time coming. But you’re only 21. Do you feel that way?
When you have a goal like winning a world title or a gold medal there’s not really a time limit on it. For me, there wasn’t at least. It was just something I wanted to do in my career. I believed in myself that I was going to get there, no matter how long that took. There are a lot of things that have to align to be a world champion, there’s a lot of hard work and sacrifice that has to be put in in order to get to that and I think taking time off the tour last year made me realize what it really takes.
I’m super young but people have been saying I was going to be a world champ for so long. But sometimes they say that and it never happens. It feels good to live up to that expectation and accomplish that. It means so much to me and it’s something I’ll have forever.
What was it like going up against Carissa Moore in the final and defeating such a worthy competitor?
It was really cool. Carissa has always been my biggest inspiration. Growing up, I always thought she was really cool and her and Steph [Gilmore] were my favorites. She was in my first ever heat in the CT when I got a wildcard, my first ever CT win was against Carissa, and now my first world title, so that just shows you how long she’s been dominating the sport. I’m super stoked to have beaten her in the final because I think Carissa’s super gnarly, so to beat the best to be the best feels really good. I have mad respect for her.
Photo: Serena Lutton
You mentioned last year being the hardest of your life and this year being the best. What advice would you offer to someone going through a difficult time?
I think when moments are really tough in your life and you’re asking yourself why me, those are the moments that can make or break you. There are some other athletes like Simone Biles that have taken some time off and come back stronger. In the moment doing that hard work to take care of yourself might feel impossible but it does pay off. I wanted to hide everything and act like everything was okay but when I finally talked about it to my family and close friends that really helped.
As an athlete, sometimes it’s hard because it can be shown as a weakness and that’s what you don’t want. We’re all human and it’s okay to take time for yourself. You’re nothing without your health, so it’s important to take that time away. It was helpful for me and I came back stronger. I went from the lowest point to the highest point ever and one million percent it made this moment so much more special. Just use that as an example to believe in yourself and know that you can get through anything when you’re having down moments – you can come back stronger.
What are your thoughts about the upcoming Olympics?
I would love to win a gold medal. It’s really special to even be going back to the Olympics and representing my country. It’s such a powerful, beautiful feeling. Teahupo’o is such an iconic wave; it’s really terrifying but also really beautiful. To medal there would be a dream. To get barreled at a contest to win a gold medal sounds amazing.
