"The process is very raw. I'm not gonna lie…I lost the world title after being in the lead all season."
It ain’t news that Carissa Moore owned the 2022 season, wrapping up the title in a normal year even before the usual Hawaiian gun fight.
As you’ll remember, in one of sport’s great comeback stories, Stephanie Gilmore sucked the juice out of the universe to win her eighth world title in one-day event at Lower Trestles, California.
Gilmore came into Finals Day rated fifth in the world and, according to the format, had to win three consecutive heats to get a shot at the reigning champ Carissa Moore in a best-of-three showdown for the crown.
And, then, in deteriorating two-to-three-foot surf, Gilmore rode the crumbling little waves in a hypnotically rhythmic manner, for no reason is she regarded as the most stylish surfer on earth, to beat the younger Hawaiian in two straight heats.
For some, including me, the format was an ingenious invention; for others a nightmarish farce.
As Carissa Moore tells it in a new interview, she was furious.
“The process is very raw. I’m not gonna lie…I was angry… It’s not like I picked myself up five minutes later and was, like, okay, let’s go! I lost the world title after being in the lead all season… I got the rug swept from underneath me. It took me, I would say, a solid month to get over that one.”
Moore says she alternated between fury and crying hysterically.
“You’re grieving over this,” she says.
(Although lest we forget the previous year when Moore raced her Cadillac Mayhems along Lowers’ smooth walls with the frenetic energy of a man whose nostril hairs are frosted with coke, winning title five. Not so many complains then etc.)
Kinda interesting that Gilmore ain’t sold on Finals Day either.
“A big part of me still thinks the world champion should be crowned over all the different conditions, surfing is about being able to compete in all different kinds of waves and being successful all through the year.”
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We’re all waiting for the WNBA to announce. Then this whole debacle will get really real.
As a teenager!
Just have all in put up or shut single all inclusive open competition, losers don’t get invited a second time ,that should sort out the problem.
No, but he did show up and compete, and he has one of the best surf pics ever taken, which occurred at legit size Backdoor. Plus some nice shots of him charging very large Sunset. And also Todos Santos. Tom wasn’t afraid of size–he just didn’t have results there. Compared to Felipe, and also Steph. The argument could actually be made that Carissa is even better than Felipe at Pipe/Backdoor. Not sure about Chopes, as not much footage of Carissa there. Then again, all she’d have to do is shoulder hop and she’d be better.
Different beast to Pipe or Chopes, but Curren surfing big Margaret River all the way to the river mouth would have taken some serious balls and skill.
… come to think of it, are there any shots of Curren going left at Pipe? Everything I remember is backdoor.
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one bug-eyed ketch w/spinny flyin in the SB Channel tonight…one island retreat boat for missionaries in a Bayshore/Lifeguard small whaler. both missin…fuck ’em. drop a quarter!
You have to respect the season.
How much more simple does it have to be?
Like non elimination heats. Why?
This sport doesn’t currently respect itself.
5 titles not enough? you get paid to surf but never look stoked!
If she had been awarded last year’s title – which she deserved – she’d have six titles to Layne and Steph’s 7. Instead we have her on 5 with Steph on 8 and the lord of the kooks – ELO – praising Gilmore as the GOAT! Despite all this Moore still looks stoked on life!
Everyone needs transportation
I don’t like the Trestles surf off, Steph looked disinterested for 2/3 of the year & Riz was super consistent. Although she did shut Layne up so there’s that hahaha!
Get rid of the finals day, get rid of the tub (it’s awful to watch), get rid of the mid season cut, too hard on crew that have spent years qualifying. Reduce the field would be a good compromise.
Maybe get rid of Elo too, he’s from Oklahoma (via Oprah’s studio), clearly has no soul.
Rant over!
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camero v8 w. hollies…throw in a dune buggy…chevy wagon…pack us all
into will rogers…didn’t make it the ‘bu. fine by me. stewardess’s
buy a guy a drink? I’m cryin…
Steph Gilmore is the right hander beach break World Champ. No knock just a fact.
I realize how many comments I’ve made over 10 yrs and I grieve and cry hysterically everyday, too.
Look at all your badges too?!!!
I got badge envy.
Should have never pissed Neggy off with my advice on greek women.
oil ^ vinegar
Gorilla can give you some.
What did you say about the gorgeous Greeks?
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eeeo extratrirgin oliveoil…no substitutes.
we are a fucked up bunch.
olivr oi ‘of popeye?
I got badges bitches hate me dudes dis me BUT I got grit badges muthafuckers I got da grit badges .
Just leaves a bad taste in your mouth that Steff and Fil left their souls in the Teahupoo channel.
The finals day at Lowers is an insult to the season.
Felipe got the monkey off his back, but it remains in his head. He can’t be internally proud of the last contest, no matter how he pimped two 7’s on the shoulder.
Carissa was jobbed by the format. She still could have stomped Steffi in garbage Lowers. It should never have come to that.
Yeah, no doubt. While I did enjoy Steph smashing everyone that day, I did also feel Riss got robbed. Honestly it just goes to show what a joke it is, having an Okie run pro surfing.