Carissa More is a five-time World Champion, Olympic gold medalist, and one of the most influential surfers of all time. Carissa joins The Lineup to talk about her highly anticipated return to the World Surf League Championship Tour in 2026.
After stepping away from full-time competition in 2024, welcoming her daughter in 2025, and spending time rediscovering her love for surfing, Carissa is back on tour with a new mindset. In this conversation, she opens up about what inspired the comeback, how motherhood has changed her relationship with competition, and why she’s embracing the role of underdog heading into the new season.
Carissa reflects on her journey from teenage phenom to one of the most decorated surfers in history, including the pressure of early expectations, the evolution of women’s surfing, and the heartbreak of coming up short in back-to-back Finals Day losses at Lower Trestles. She also shares how stepping away from the grind of tour life helped her reconnect with the joy of surfing—and why that perspective might make her more dangerous than ever.
We also dive into the realities of life on tour with a young family, the challenges of balancing training with motherhood, the support system behind her career, and the sponsors and shapers who helped shape her success—including longtime collaboration with Lost Surfboards’ Matt “Mayhem” Biolos.
Learn more about Carissa here and follow her here.
Learn about her foundation Moore Aloha here and follow them here.
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The Lineup with Dave Prodan - A Surfing Podcast