Moore, 18, was presented with the title after the semifinals. After she defeated French surfer Pauline Ado in the first semifinal, in three-foot surf, her closest rival, Sally Fitzgibbons, needed to win the event to carry the race to the seventh and final ASP Women's World Tour contest. Fitzgibbons lost to Gilmore in the other semifinal.
"It's been a great event and I was just smiling during the whole final," said Hawaii's Moore, who finished third last year in her rookie season. "I have been thinking about this for a long time since I was a little girl. Just to be here right now and being world champ is pretty crazy."
The legendary Kelly Slater, a 10-time world champion on the men's tour, won his first title when he was 20, and had been the youngest.
Carissa Moore 2011 ASP Women's World Champion from Nike 6.0 on Vimeo.
Moore ended the four-year reign of Gilmore, a 23-year-old Australian who had won titles each year since her 2007 rookie season. Moore also becomes the first female surfer from Hawaii to win a women's title since Margo Oberg in 1981. (The late Andy Irons claimed consecutive men's titles from 2002-04.)
Gilmore's victory in the Roxy Pro final was her first this season.
"Her turns out there were really strong and I thought she was surfing better than me but I got a little head dip and it was the excitement of everything," said Gilmore, who beat Moore by a score of 17.27 to 15.50in the best-two-waves format. "She is definitely the strongest of everyone this whole year and she has been in every single final and that is a new record. To beat the freshly-crowned champ is pretty cool."
Moore,an 11-time national amateur champion, had for years been labeled a future superstar. She made her first statement when she was 10 and placed third at the 2003 National Championships in a boys' Mini Grom final.
"The first time I saw Carissa competing at the Nationals, I could tell she had this special talent," said Janice Aragon, executive director of the National Scholastic Surfing Assn."Every year, she would blow my mind with phenomenal surfing and technical skills that massively improved with each year. She became unstoppable. No one yet has come close to her competitive dominance at the national level."
Moore is known for her humble, almost shy nature out of the water, and her cunning ability to catch the best waves and execute flawless turns and cutbacks.
"I dreamed of surfing at this level my whole life since I was a little kid and I don't think you can ever expect or anticipate the feeling," she said.
-- Images of Carissa Moore in action and during her world title celebration are courtesy of ÃÃé ASP/ Aquashot
7 Comments
1-7 of 7
Posted by jerky July 15, 2011 02:23pm PDTReply | Report Abuse
Wow USA sucks
Posted by jerky July 15, 2011 02:24pm PDTReply | Report Abuse
We invented surfing and now were get our asses kick by third world countries..Lame sport jerky, and gay..
Reply by kimo July 16, 2011 04:21pm PDTReport Abuse
Hawaiians were the first surfers long before they became the 50th state.
Posted by herondo July 15, 2011 05:49pm PDTReply | Report Abuse
@Jerky, "lame sport"?! Better than anything in your shitt life.
Reply by jerky July 16, 2011 02:12pm PDTReport Abuse
Ya lie cool man. I have like a job. It really sucks having money in my pock..Oh dude
I also live with my wife and three kids. not my mon and like ten of my dudes..
Reply by jerky July 16, 2011 02:16pm PDTReport Abuse
wow..sorry my spelling sucks.. What a really meant to say is " Ya like cool man. I have like a job. It really sucks having money in my pocket.. Oh dude, I also live with my wife and three kids. I do not live with my mom and like ten of my dudes..Life does sucks for me. WOW!!! I know in to drop out of life and be a surfer dude.. Ya.. Thats what I going to do..
Reply by demonale July 16, 2011 07:31pm PDTReport Abuse
A few words of advice:1) Learn to spell before you post, or at least get one of your kids to proof read it for you. 2)Get your facts straight- surfing is an ancient sport, originally practiced by Hawaiian royalty.
Reply by jerky July 16, 2011 08:40pm PDTReport Abuse
douche bag says..Demonale
Reply by jerky July 16, 2011 08:40pm PDTReport Abuse
douche bag says..Demonale
Reply by jiblet65 July 18, 2011 07:30am PDTReport Abuse
jerky, I'm sure your life does suck with three rugrats running around. probably the only thing your wife gives you anymore is grief. go troll around on momslikeme.com you zero.
Reply by randy oconnor July 18, 2011 10:58am PDTReport Abuse
time spent surfing is not counted against your lifespan
Posted by pope daryl July 17, 2011 08:54am PDTReply | Report Abuse
I paid $32.67 for a XBOX 360 and my mom got a 17 inch Toshiba laptop for $94.83 being delivered to our house tomorrow by FedEX. I will never again pay expensive retail prices at stores. I even sold a 46 inch HDTV to my boss for $650 and it only cost me $52.78 to get. Here is the website we using to get all this stuff, BidsFresh.com
Posted by jk90us July 17, 2011 02:12pm PDTReply | Report Abuse
Cool. Let me know when she poses in Playboy. Otherwise, don't care.
Posted by scott parker July 18, 2011 09:15am PDTReply | Report Abuse
I grew up in California and have played almost every sport there is except polo on horseback. I can tell you that surfing is probably the most exhilarating sport that I have experienced. Catching and riding a wave longer than, say, 30 yards is something that you will never forget. I know a lot of the surfer junkies are a bit different and have rather unique lingo and lifestyle, but that notwithstanding it is truly a wonderful sport. The biggest challenge, unfortunately, is to find a nice surfing spot on a good day with NO crowds. Sadly, the water is getting more and more crowded and often is not very civil. They do have "artificial" surf spots, like the Mandalay Bay Casino in Las Vegas that actually produce nice little waves that you can ride, and they limit the number of people in the water (as I recall; it has been a few years since I was last there). But, yeah, the biggest drag in surfing is finding a nice spot to surf that does not resemble a freeway traffic jam.
Posted by scott parker July 18, 2011 09:15am PDTReply | Report Abuse
I grew up in California and have played almost every sport there is except polo on horseback. I can tell you that surfing is probably the most exhilarating sport that I have experienced. Catching and riding a wave longer than, say, 30 yards is something that you will never forget. I know a lot of the surfer junkies are a bit different and have rather unique lingo and lifestyle, but that notwithstanding it is truly a wonderful sport. The biggest challenge, unfortunately, is to find a nice surfing spot on a good day with NO crowds. Sadly, the water is getting more and more crowded and often is not very civil. They do have "artificial" surf spots, like the Mandalay Bay Casino in Las Vegas that actually produce nice little waves that you can ride, and they limit the number of people in the water (as I recall; it has been a few years since I was last there). But, yeah, the biggest drag in surfing is finding a nice spot to surf that does not resemble a freeway traffic jam.
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