Caroline Marks (born February 14, 2002) is an American professional surfer. She is the 2023 World Surf League Women's World Tour Champion and an Olympic gold medalist at the 2024 Paris Olympics. She has won multiple national championships and is the youngest woman to compete in a World Surf League event. Marks is the youngest surfer to qualify for the women's Championship Tour.
She competed in the elite (top 16) of the World Surf League and ended 2018 season in 7th place, earning Rookie of the Year. She lives in San Clemente, California.
In 2019, Marks qualified as one of the two women on the United States' first surfing team to compete at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan."Carissa Moore, Caroline Marks qualify for U.S. Olympic surfing team" NBC Sports. December 1, 2019. At the 2024 Summer Olympics, she won the gold medal in the women's shortboard event. Marks was inducted into the Surfers' Hall of Fame on August 1, 2025.
Early life Marks' mother and grandmother were raised in Greece. Marks' mother later moved to the United States and gave birth to Marks in Florida.Lewitt, Theo (February 21, 2017). "Surf the Greek Isles With Caroline Marks". Red Bull. Retrieved July 13, 2021. She is the third of six children.Graham, Pat (July 10, 2021). "High-Water Marks: Teen Surfer Rides Memorable Wave to Tokyo". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved July 12, 2021. The house she grew up in had a large backyard with a motorbike-track, halfpipe, and a surf break across the street. She discovered her love of sports through barrel racing and began surfing competitively when she was 8 years old.Yap, Audrey Cleo (July 24, 2018). "Teenage professional surfer Caroline Marks comfortable with unconventional life". ESPN. Retrieved August 14, 2018. Marks and her siblings have all supported and encouraged each other in their individual passions. When her older brother Zach was 12, he created the social media site Grom Social for kids, and Marks helped create images and characters for the site. She continues to post on the site as herself, updating users on her adventures and accomplishments. Likewise, her brother, other siblings and the rest of her family have been a constant presence at her competitions, cheering her on, giving her pointers and shouldering her when she takes home a win.Marks, Zach (March 19, 2018). "How I Built a $100 Million Company by the Time I Was 17 Years Old". Entrepreneur. Retrieved July 13, 2021."Grom Social Ambassador Caroline Marks – The World's #1 Ranked Women's Surfer – To Be Featured In The All-New Grom App". Yahoo! Finance. May 21, 2019. Retrieved July 13, 2021. Marks attributes her success and how good she is to her brothers and her roots of trying to impress them when she was growing up.
Career 2018 In 2018, her first year on tour, Marks had three third-place finishes in 10 events. She was named Rookie of the Year and finished the season ranked seventh in the world.
2019 In April 2019, at the first event of the WSL Championship tour, Marks defeated then seven-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore at the Australian's home break of Duranbah, New South Wales in the quarter-finals of the Boost Mobile Pro Gold Coast. She then continued through the semi-finals, beating Malia Manuel. In the finals, she defeated three-time world champion Carissa Moore to claim her first WSL event title, beginning the 2019 season as the world's top-ranked female surfer.
She is the first surfer to receive Team USA's Best of April Award, which recognizes the outstanding achievements of prospective Team USA Olympic athletes. "Caroline is one of those rare athletes that from when she was 12 years old it was obvious that she was going to be world champion," said USA Surfing head coach Chris Stone. "Not if, but when. To see what she's doing at 17 years old must be frightening to all her competitors. I can't wait to see what the future holds for her."
2019 World Championship Tour In December 2019, she finished second on the WSL Championship tour to Carissa Moore. By finishing second, Marks earned a spot on the team for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, along with Moore.
2021 Marks tested positive for COVID-19 in advance of a World Surf League competition in Australia in early 2021 and later found out it was a false positive, which nullified her fears of not being able to compete.Carroll, Nick (April 13, 2021). "Going Vertical: The women are owning it right now". Surfline. Retrieved July 12, 2021.Ryan, Maggie (July 9, 2021). "False Positives, Historical Wins, and Finishing High School: Caroline Marks's Road to Tokyo" . Yahoo Sports. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
2020 Summer Olympics
Marks was the youngest surfer to qualify for the 2020 Summer Olympics postponed to July and August 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.Bricker, Tierney (July 10, 2021). "Meet the 6 Surfers Set to Make Waves at the 2020 Olympics". E! Online. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
In round one of shortboard competition, Marks scored a total of 13.40 points, won her heat, and advanced directly to round three of competition.Gibbs, Simon (July 25, 2021). "USA duo Marks and Moore advance to Round 3 of women's surfing competition". NBC Olympics. Retrieved July 25, 2021. In the third round of competition, a head-to head elimination round where two surfers competed in each heat and only the highest scoring surfer advanced to the quarterfinals, Marks won her heat against Mahina Maeda with a score of 15.33 and advanced to the quarterfinals of competition.Lutz, Tom (July 25, 2021). "Olympics 2020 day three: Kristian Blummenfelt wins men's triathlon ahead of Alex Yee, swimming, gymnastics and more – live!". The Guardian. Retrieved July 25, 2021."Caroline Marks Advances to Surfing Quarterfinals". WRC-TV. July 25, 2021. Retrieved July 25, 2021. Her score of 15.33 was the highest score of all the competitors, male or female, in the third round of competition for all surfing events at the 2020 Olympics."Caroline Marks puts up highest score in Round 3". KTVZ. July 25, 2021. Retrieved July 25, 2021.Walters, Tim (July 26, 2021). "Caroline Marks easily wins Round 3 surfing heat to advance at Olympics". Florida Today. Retrieved July 26, 2021.
In the quarterfinals, Marks won her head-to-head heat against Brisa Hennessy with a score of 12.50 points and qualified for the semi-finals.Urban, Mychael (July 26, 2021). "U.S. teen Caroline Marks, teammate Carissa Moore surf into semis". NBC Olympics. Retrieved July 26, 2021. Marks did not advance to the final heat after her semi-final match against Bianca Buitendag, and instead advanced to the heat determining the winner of the bronze medal."Surfing-Japan's Igarashi to take on Ferreira for first surfing gold". Reuters. July 26, 2021. Retrieved July 26, 2021. In her final match against Amuro Tsuzuki, Tsuzuki won the bronze medal and Marks ended the competition ranked fourth overall."Melbourne Beach native, Olympic surfer Caroline Marks finishes fourth". Florida Today. July 27, 2021. Retrieved July 27, 2021.
2022 In February 2022, Marks withdrew before the second event of the season and took time away from tour "to deal with some recurring medical and health issues." She missed half the season and did not qualify for the WSL Finals.https://stabmag.com/features/caroline-marks-wouldnt-change-a-thing/. June 9, 2022.
2023
2024
Won Gold during the 2024 Paris Olympics in Teahupo'o Reef Pass, Tahiti for Team USA.
Career victories WSL Finals WinsYearEventVenueCountry 2023 Rip Curl WSL Finals Lower Trestles, California
WCT WinsYearEventVenueCountry 2025 MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal Supertubos, Peniche 2024 Surf City El Salvador Pro Punta Roca, La Libertad 2023 SHISEIDO Tahiti Pro Teahupo'o, Tahiti 2023 Surf City El Salvador Pro Punta Roca, La Libertad 2021Rip Curl Narrabeen Classic presented by CoronaNarrabeen, New South Wales Australia 2019 MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal Supertubos, Peniche 2019 Boost Mobile Pro Gold Coast Gold Coast, Queensland WQS WinsYearEventVenueCountry 2022 U.S. Air Force Super Girl Surf Pro Jacksonville, Florida 2021 Nissan Super Girl Surf Pro Oceanside Pier, California 2019Florida Pro Sebastian Inlet, Florida 2018Ron Jon Florida Pro Sebastian Inlet, Florida 2018Los Cabos Open of Surf Zippers, San Jose del Cabo Juniors WinsYear Event VenueCountry 2016 Vans US Open of Surfing (W JUN)Huntington Beach, California 2015 Junior Women's Vans US Open of SurfingHuntington Beach, California
OlympicsYearEventVenueCountry2024 Olympic Surfing Competition Teahupo'o, Tahiti
Junior event wins 2015 US Open Jr. Champion 2016 ISA Girls World Champion (U16) 2016 US Open Jr. Champion
Open event wins
2015 Volcom World VQS Champion 2x Open Women's NSSA Champion 6x Surfing America Champion 2x Open Girls NSSA Champion
Personal life Marks has a YouTube channel she started February 23, 2021, where she uploads videos related to her surfing.Marks, Caroline. "Caroline Marks – About". YouTube. Retrieved July 10, 2021. Her first video featured her surfing with Lakey Peterson.Marks, Caroline (February 25, 2021). "PRACTICE HEATS AND FREE SURFS WITH LAKEY PETERSON". YouTube. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
Marks is a feminist and an advocate for body image positivity in women aiming to reduce the sexualization of women's bodies when they are still going through puberty.Azzi, Alex (June 16, 2021). "How surfer Caroline Marks learned to love her body". NBC Sports. Retrieved July 12, 2021.Gurry, Lili (June 16, 2021). "Podcast: U.S. surfer Caroline Marks advocates for body positivity". NBC Olympics. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
References
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