Caroline Marks: 2023 World Champion
Image: WSL / Pat Nolan
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Caroline Marks is on top of the world. At just 21 years old, she has fulfilled the goal she has been working towards every single day of her surfing life: winning a surfing world title. In the conversation that follows, Caroline shares how it felt to come out on top after a year of struggle with her mental health, how she approached her physical and mental preparation leading up to finals, and how she is framing her mindset to stay focussed on enjoying the process amidst the frenzy of an elite competitive lifestyle. Reflecting on finals day, Caroline takes us through the rollercoaster of emotions she experienced on the day, from the nerves and adrenaline of pre-heat anxiety, the mixed feelings that came with competing against and beating her friend and hero Carissa Moore, and ultimately, the greatest high of her life as she reached her dream in front of her community of friends and family.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
I want to take it back to the Shiseido Tahiti pro, the last event leading up to the finals. You won that event, and everybody talks about your backhand surfing but you are super well rounded and you won going frontside at Teahupo’o in heavy water. It's a new event on the women's tour. When you won that event, were you thinking, “I'm gonna go home now and win the world title”? What was your mindset coming out of Tahiti?
Yeah, I mean, when I got to Tahiti, my big goal was to better my position to go into Lowers. I think if Tyler had made the semis, even if I won, I couldn't [win the world title]. So, she made the semis and then I ended up winning. But to be honest, going to that event I really wanted to put on a good performance. You know, Tahiti, and Teahupo’o, is such a beautiful but scary wave at the same time. And obviously now, you know, we have Pipeline, we have Sunset, we have Teahupo’o – we have some very heavy water waves on the tour. And it's changed a lot since I first qualified. So, I just really wanted to, get better in waves like that and just to really learn in every single heat. And I was like, what better way than when you're in the water with one other person, you have priority, and you have the whole lineup to yourself, and there's no option but to go?
I love your surfing at Teahupo’o. You put out a clip, I think right before it came onto the tour and everybody was just mind blown. They were like, alright, we're doing the female CT at Tahiti, at Teahupo’o. So, after that, did you b-line straight home to San Clemente?
Yeah, I actually was looking at the forecast and it didn't really look like the waves were that good after, so I surfed the very next day and then flew home that night. So yeah, I probably would have stayed if there was good swell, but there wasn't. So I was like, I'm gonna go home and regroup. At that point, that was like the longest I would have at home before the next event so I just really wanted to take that time to rest and get some training sessions in. So yeah, I pretty much went straight home the next day.
I'm super interested to hear about those couple of weeks leading up to this monumental event. What was your daily schedule when you got home – your training, downtime, things like that?
When I first got them from Tahiti I was actually really tired. So, I k didn't really surf the first week I was home, which was really difficult for me to do because I just love being in the water, I love surfing. But I knew we had really good waves leading up to the Lowers event and I knew that we were gonna get a really good swell, so I was pacing myself for that and trying not to wear myself out even though the waves were so good. So yeah, the first week I just trained a lot and didn't really surf that much. Then there were seven straight days of just perfect lowers and I pretty much was surfing all day. It was hard not to surf all day. So yeah, it just felt like I was on a surf trip at home. That's pretty crazy.
Yeah, we finally got swell. What's your training protocol like?
I kind of just do what I feel like. I definitely am a person that gets energy off doing things. So it's definitely not a hard thing for me to go train or go surf. Those things bring me joy. I mean, when I'm home I definitely try to get some training sessions in because when I'm on the road, it's just pure surfing.
Like resistance training?
Oh, yeah, kind of a bit of everything. A lot of balance work, a bit of cardio. A lot of stuff just to make sure everything is aligned properly. Obviously, surfing your body's in kind of an awkward position, so the training I do is a lot to prevent injuries and stuff, protect your knees, things like that. But yeah, definitely in the offseason I do a bit of harder training before the season starts, and during the season, more maintenance training, if that makes sense.
Do you have any wellness things that you do? Like ice baths or saunas?
Of course. I love the sauna and ice bath. I'm a big fan of that. I'm just starting to ice bath more. I have a sauna at my house. So, I don't have an ice bath, I just make one but I'm trying to get one because I think the sauna-ice combination is so good.
What do you do mentally to get your headspace ready?
I think last year, I went through one of the hardest times of my life, mentally and physically. And it definitely was a challenge to get back up. I wasn't sure if I was ever going to get to that place of happiness that I had before. I feel like at the start of this year I was still really vulnerable. Competing again, seeing everyone, there were new events on tour or new new faces on tour, and I just definitely was like, hey, where do I fit in? Which is weird, I've never felt that way in my life before. And as the year went on, I built a lot of confidence and started to really enjoy surfing and really enjoy more than just the result, enjoying the people around me and enjoying the culture I'm going to. I think getting back to that place I just went okay, I got through that, I can take on anything, and that became my mindset. It made me stronger, all the stuff I went through last year. So yeah, the year just kept going, I kept building confidence and just kept enjoying everything. And then, all of a sudden, I was in the finals. It definitely goes by really fast, you know. Because we're always on to the next thing. So I just really tried to live in the moment and enjoy every second of it. Because we have such a unique lifestyle, you know, you really have to enjoy it.
It sounds like getting into such a good place, that was already a huge win. And then to win a world title on top of that is just adding icing to the cake.
Oh, absolutely. It's a crazy thing because last year was a big low point in my life, and this year has been the best year of my life. So it's pretty crazy. I feel really grateful to have such an amazing crew around me. I have such an amazing support system around me. When the buzzer went off, I was like, wow, no matter what happens today, I have the best crew around me. And that is a win in itself. So yeah, to be back in that place, being really happy and really enjoying every day is really cool.
You can see it in your surfing too. I think more than anyone else on the men's and women's side I was like, wow, she looks so confident and unstoppable and not nervous. You and Matt Biolos, your surfboard shaper - I heard that you made some tweaks to your boards leading up to the last event. Can you tell me a little about that?
It was kind of a copy of the board I went to El Salvador on. Every board is a little different, right? Not every board is the exact same and Matt is such an amazing shaper. I actually don't know too much about surfboards, I’m trying to learn and I was joking with them - I'm like, thank you for being so good because I don't know too much about surfboards, you know. So I kind of just get a board and say “I like this one just make me more of this one”. But yeah, after the El Salvador batch I tried to copy those ones and they came out a little different. These boards were so magic and so perfect. It's the driver 3.0 model, but there's a few tweaks with the rocker and stuff that are modified for me. I just found that kind of perfect balance to where it works just so perfectly. I don't know too much about surfboards, but I think it's a combination between the driver 2.0 and 3.0 instead of just the driver three, if that makes sense. I have smiley faces on my board. My little sister gave me that idea and I thought that was really fun. Matt Boiolos’ daughter paints that and she's young, but really talented and it's really cool.
So it's the morning of finals, we're pretty much sure it's running that day. What time did you wake up?
Yeah, I was up at 4:30 which, I'm such a night owl, so it's really hard for me to get up. Well, I guess I'm pretty good at getting up early but it's really hard for me to go to sleep early. I've just been like that my whole life. I am up late all the time. I don't know why but it's just the way I am. And so yeah, getting up at 4:30, I was like, woah this is early. Originally we thought it was gonna run on Sunday and then a couple days before it looked like the hurricane changed and it looked really good on Saturday. We showed up that morning and I was like, oh, it's for sure on. The waves were really good. I knew it was gonna get better during the day and get bigger and so yeah, 4:30am, wake up call.
Did you eat breakfast? Did you drink something?
No honestly I barely ate the whole day. I was just drinking a bunch of water. I could not stomach anything because there were just too many nerves and adrenaline going, so no breakfast that day.
Who was with you when you headed down to the event?
I was just with my filmer and I picked up my coach in the morning. So yeah, my coach, my filmer and then my family just met me down there. They got down there at like 5am to get a spot on the beach. And so that was really cool.
Was your whole family there with you? Who was in your crew? Besides your coach and your filmer?
Yeah, my whole family was there. A few of my friends flew out from Florida which was really special, and a lot of my friends from San Clemente. I feel like they adopted me here, which is really cool. So yeah, it was the perfect combination of my Florida people and my San Clemente friends. It was really special.
Did you surf in the morning to warm up?
Yeah, I did surf in the morning.
How was that session jostling with everyone?
It was fun. I mean, I think that morning, people were like, “alright, any wave you want” and I was like, oh, this is great! So that was really cool. But I only caught a couple waves because I knew it was gonna be a long day and wanted to save my energy.
And then you had to wait for a couple of heats. When you went out for your first heat, like I said, I thought you looked really confident. Is that how you felt?
I definitely felt really confident. Leading up to the event, I felt like I was surfing really good, my boards felt amazing, and my mind felt really good. I had my family around me, my friends around me, and when I'm happy, that's when I do my best surfing. I felt really happy and grateful and joyful. But I also had a thought that, wow, your whole year is down to 35 minutes, and anything can happen. We're dealing with Mother Nature and no matter how good you feel, we still are dealing with Mother Nature. So that definitely was in my head a little bit. But after that first heat, I feel like I built a lot of confidence and kind of just was like, alright, it's on. And I just feel like I had a really special connection with the ocean that day. I felt like everything was flowing - I felt really confident on what waves to take, and I wasn't thinking too much. That was a really special feeling. You know, so I think the heat would Tyler I really felt like I got a lot of confidence from that heat. We had a lot of waves in that heat and I had a lot of good scores, and that was really cool.
So, you were in tune with the ocean, you were switched on. Obviously, you won. And I know that you are close with Carissa - you put out a really sweet video with her in Tahiti doing a trivia Ice Bucket Challenge. I'm sure there were a lot of mixed emotions in that moment. So what was that like? Did you share a moment with Carissa out in the lineup after?
I did, yeah. First off, I just want to say I have so much respect for her. Just growing up, I mean, you can probably find a ton of interviews of me saying how big of an inspiration she is to me. She's been that girl that I wanted to be like, and so do now, you know, to share the lineup with her on the biggest stage going for the biggest goal of both of ours, it's such a surreal feeling. And so, she's just such a class act and a kind soul. I have a lot of respect for and I love her. So, it is a weird thing, you know, you're in the water and you are there for the same thing. We both want to rip each other's head off in the water. But when it's all said and done, we both have a lot of respect for each other. So yeah, it was definitely a mixed emotion because I was so happy but I knew she was really bummed. And that's just sports, you know, that's how it is. She was really cool. She gave me a hug after and I know she didn't have to do that, so I really appreciated that. And I know she made a really cool post. I was there for her when she won the gold medal and I remember being like, well, I want to do that. So the fact that she was there for me when I won my first world title was so special. And I honestly didn't want to do it against anybody else. I was like, I want to win my title against Carissa. So that was really special.
And now she'll be your teammate at the Olympics.
Yeah, super cool.
I'm sure there were so many emotions that moment you went back to the beach? Were you crying? What was that like?
Waterworks, I was full of waterworks. I've been really emotional this whole year for some reason. Like, I don't know, I just been really emotional. I’ve just been really feeling things. So yeah, I started crying. I was like, holy cow, hearing everyone yelling and screaming for me on the beach, seeing my mom's face and my brother's face, hugging my brother, was crazy to me. Because, he's literally why I started surfing, my older brother. I was riding horses, and then I just wanted to be like him and they surfed. So I was like, I gotta serve because they think that's cool. And so it was such a special feeling. And he's actually three for three, my oldest brother, the only events he's been to is the Gold Coast, El Salvador and Lowers. I'm like, Dude, you're undefeated with me. You gotta come everywhere. So it's just really special that we get to share those moments, and it was very emotional for me. I mean, gosh, every single day of my life, you know, since I started surfing I’ve worked towards this goal. And, I mean, it's just freakin incredible.
San Clemente kind of went wild after that. I want to know about your celebration, and what did you do after you won?
I’m still recovering from yesterday, I can barely speak. So yeah, I mean, the WSL put on a really cool party and that was awesome. And all my closest family and friends were there. I went out and had another dinner last night and everyone was doing speeches and it was super emotional and really cool. There are definitely going to be a lot of celebrations coming up, probably a few weeks of celebrating which is really special. And I really want to soak in this moment. I feel like I'm floating on a cloud. I woke up the next morning like what happened yesterday? That was crazy. If you told a 10 year old me to write down a dream scenario to win your first title, that would have been it. I was like, I'm putting the trophy in my car and driving home, that is so crazy to think about. It was just really special.
