World Surf League Raglan: Inside Carissa Moore returning to Championship Tour and connection with New Zealand
Carissa Moore returned to the World Surf League Championship Tour this year, with husband, Luke Untermann, and daughter, Olena Lililehua Untermann, travelling the world with her. Photo / World Surf League
When Carissa Moore stepped away from professional surfing in 2024, there was no guarantee she would be back.
With an Olympic gold medal and five World Championship trophies to her credit, Moore departed the sport to focus on exploring other areas of her life. In an open letter explaining the decision, she said it had been harder to find the motivation to keep competing with the intensity she had earlier in her career.
Her last event before stepping away was the 2024 Olympic Games at the famed Teahupo’o break in Tahiti, where she was eliminated in the quarter-finals. A few weeks later, Moore announced she and her husband, Luke Untermann, were expecting their first child.
The pair welcomed their daughter, Olena Lililehua Untermann, in February of 2025, and when the opportunity arose to return to the World Surf League Championship Tour (CT) as a wildcard for the 2026 season, one thing was non-negotiable for the Hawaiian.
“It was going to be our family all together or not at all. This is all about making memories and showing our daughter the world and getting to see family and friends again that we haven’t seen,” Moore told the Herald.
“She may not remember this, but it’ll be so cool to look back at all the pictures and tell her the stories. It would just feel weird to do it without them. It wouldn’t make sense.”
Currently in New Zealand for the fourth event of the CT season, Moore was looking at surfing through a different lens.
Speaking to the Herald on the drive back to Raglan after a family outing to Hamilton Zoo – Olena’s first zoo experience – on Thursday’s lay day, the 33-year-old said while her time on tour didn’t look how it used to, it was so much more joyful in ways.
“Yes, it’s harder, but I’m loving the challenge, and we’re figuring it out as a family. And I think it’s added a new dimension to everything and perspective,” she said.
“I can’t do things the way that I used to, I don’t have the same time or capacity. But it’s allowed me to ... tap into different strengths that I didn’t know that I had and try to find confidence in new ways. I think it’s been really humbling as well because I’m having to figure it out and give myself the room to make some mistakes. I’m just really enjoying the whole journey so far.”
On the waves of Raglan’s Manu Bay in the early rounds of the New Zealand Pro, Moore has looked at home.
She has posted the highest heat total in both rounds of the women’s competition so far, with her opening round effort of 16.34 the second highest heat total across both the men’s and women’s draws – second only to Yago Dora’s 17.76 in round two.
It’s Moore’s fifth time competing in New Zealand, with the women’s CT visiting Taranaki for four years from 2010 to 2013. During that span, Moore had an event win, two seconds and a fifth.
“It just reminds me a lot of home,” Moore said of New Zealand.
“I think the people here, the open space, the feeling of aloha, or aroha, here is very strong. I really like the place and I feel at home and the sense of community here is really nice ... I think when I feel that way I seem to surf better.
“I’m just really grateful that ... even back in 2010 when I came, how accepted and welcomed I felt. Every year that I’ve been here, the energy’s just been great.”
In 2010, Moore was a rookie on tour. Her win in Taranaki was her first career triumph in a CT event.
Then 17, she donated her entire US$15,000 winners’ cheque to the local Waitara Bar Board Riders Club.
“It felt awesome to surf for something bigger than myself and to maybe have a small part in helping them out and grow their club and seeing the kids stoked,” she recalled.
“It was really cool too because they really got behind me that event and helped me find my feet on the tour, my rookie year, so it really felt like a combined effort.”
Outside of surfing, Moore also runs her own foundation, Moore Aloha, which aims to promote and support mental and physical wellbeing in women and girls through sport, mentorship, community and culture.
Staying busy outside of the sport with family and other areas of her life, Moore admitted that while she didn’t completely close herself off to the possibility of a return to the top level, she was still doubtful when the deadline for a 2026 wildcard arrived.
“There’s a very good chance that I wasn’t going to come back. There was a little bit of the door open still, depending on how I was feeling mentally, emotionally, physically after having my daughter – and if we even wanted to do it as a family, because it is a big commitment from not only myself but all of us; my husband and my little girl having to adapt to new places as well,” she said.
“It took some time to commit to the decision, even up until when I had to, like, say yes to the wildcard. [At] the deadline I was like, ‘Ooh, should I do this?’ I was doubting myself. But really happy that we decided to do it.
“I realised that this is not forever, and so to be able to put on the jersey again and be able to be healthy enough to compete at the level that I feel good at and, just for me, this feels like a bonus. So I’m super grateful and enjoying every moment.”
Moore will meet fellow American Caroline Marks in the quarter-finals when surfing resumes in Raglan this weekend, with action expected to get underway again on Saturday after a days-long wait for the swell to return.
And while she has changed in her time off, so too has the CT, with a host of exciting, hungry young talent now filling the field.
“The talent on tour is the best it’s ever been,” Moore said.
“Every heat is super difficult, and anyone can win an event, which is really cool. I think it’s going to be very interesting just how all the different venues go and who’s in the title race at the end of the year, but I’m super inspired and just stoked to be in the mix still.”
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.