Surfing’s elite world tour kicks off this week at Australia’s Bells Beach with Stephanie Gilmore, Carissa Moore and Gabriel Medina returning to the circuit to face off against a new guard that has raised the performance level in their absence.
The trio, who stepped away for a variety of reasons, might find a different level of competition on the 12-stop tour, entering its 50th year — particularly on competition stages that feature large, powerful waves.
“I am so stoked to be back,” five-times world champion Moore, who had her first child last year, told Reuters.
Photo: Reuters
“Being away for two years really gave me a renewed sense of appreciation for the sport — getting to do something that pushes me out of my comfort zone every day and challenges me and takes me around the world and meet great people.”
Moore won gold at the Tokyo Olympics and took the 2024 tour off to focus on defending her title on the intimidating reef break of Teahupo’o in Tahiti.
Competing while pregnant with her daughter Olena, Moore missed out on the medals and has since been focused on raising her family and enjoying the sport from the sidelines.
“Yeah, it’s been fun to be a fan the last two years, I’ll tell you that,” the 33-year-old Hawaiian said.
“I’ve been super impressed with how everybody’s been competing and raising the level of the sport, especially in waves of consequence,” she said.
Moore and Australian Gilmore, 38, dominated professional surfing for more than a decade and have 13 world titles between them.
In their absence, a crop of twenty-somethings led by last year’s champion Molly Picklum, Olympic gold medallist Caroline Marks and 2024 number one Caitlin Simmers have laid down some of the most impressive surfing seen in powerful waves at Teahupo’o and Hawaii’s Pipeline.
Even they might be looking over their shoulders at a new, even younger threat in the shape of French teenager Tya Zebrowski, who is the youngest surfer to join the elite world tour, having just turned 15.
On the men’s side, Brazilian Gabriel Medina returns from injury but would not have the opportunity to resume his great rivalry with Hawaiian John John Florence, who has opted to spend another year sailing around the world with his family.
That leaves the 32-year-old and his countrymen Yago Dora, the reigning champion, and two-times champion Filipe Toledo to do battle against Californian Griffin Colapinto and Australians Jack Robinson and Ethan Ewing for the title.
Starting on Wednesday at Bells, the tour runs through nine countries before culminating at Pipeline in surfing’s spiritual homeland in December.
New to the tour schedule is New Zealand’s Raglan, which provides the kind of high-performance left-hander many on tour have long hankered for, while Australia’s Gold Coast and California’s Lower Trestles make their return.
The US-Israeli war on Iran remains a cloud over the wave pool event scheduled for Abu Dhabi in October.
In a change announced last year, the World Surf League has scrapped its controversial winner-takes-all finale and returned to a cumulative points system to determine the titles.
The season-ending leg at Pipeline would be worth 1.5 times standard championship tour events to reflect its elevated status.
Another change is the award of a maternity wild card to kick in from the 2027 season — an innovation by the organization that delighted Moore.
“I hope that I can inspire other moms to keep doing what they love too,” Moore said. “I am excited about and motivated to push myself in ways that I haven’t before and see who I can become and how I can become a better person, a better mom, a better wife, a better sister, friend, daughter, all those things.”
A seven-year-old horse had to be euthanized on Friday after breaking its back on the final fence of a Grand National steeplechase race that it won despite sustaining the serious injury. It follows the death of four horses at the Cheltenham Festival last month — including one after the prestigious Gold Cup. Gold Dancer was competing in the Mildmay Novices’ Chase during Ladies Day at Aintree’s Grand National Festival. The horse managed to cross the finish line approximately four lengths ahead of runner-up Regent’s Stroll. “The winner of our second race of the day, Gold Dancer, was pulled up after
Taiwanese gymnast Tang Chia-hung on Sunday topped the men’s horizontal bar event at the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) World Cup in Osijek, Croatia, scoring 15.233 to take his third title this season. Tang delivered an outstanding performance in the final, earning a difficulty score of 6.500 and an execution score of 8.633 with a 0.1 stick bonus. His closest competitor was Milad Karimi of Kazakhstan, who finished second with 14.933 points. It was Tang’s third gold medal in the FIG World Cup series this year, following his horizontal bar wins in Azerbaijan on March 8, and in Turkey on March
Hans Niemann declares he would become a “stone cold killer” in a Netflix documentary released on Tuesday about his feud with five-time classical world champion Magnus Carlsen, a pledge that injects new edge into the lingering fallout from the cheating scandal that shook elite chess. “I’m gonna be a stone cold killer the rest of my life,” the US’ Niemann says in the film. “I’m going to become the best player in the world, and no one is going to believe that now, but this clip will play over and over again in 10 years — just wait.” “I just
The Daredevils yesterday took eight catches in the final as they eked out a victory in the Taiwan Cricket Triangular Tournament against PCCT at Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei’s Songshan District. PCCT’s batting lineup collapsed after they asked the Daredevils to bowl in the T20 decider of the weekend tournament that also involved the Formosa Cricket Club. PCCT were bundled out for 76 in 16.2 overs against a disciplined Daredevils attack. Ninad Malwade was the top scorer in the innings with 21, but he was among those who offered chances to the fielders. Shane Ferreira and Jason Cameron took three wickets each, with
RSS