Peace.
That's what Caroline Marks, the 22-year-old browsing sensation, feels on the waves.
No phone, no distractions. Just a deep connection between man and Mother Nature. Board and sea.
Marks describes it as “painting a picture.”
“When you're on the wave, you're very free,” Marks said. “It's a blank canvas. It's never the same wave and it's always exciting. It's a sport you can never really master.”
This love affair with browsing took Marks to the highest of the game. Multiple national championships. She was the youngest surfer to qualify for the Women's Championship Tour. She was the youngest woman to compete in a World Surf League (WSL) event. The crowning glory: winner of the WSL Women's World Tour at age 21.
Marks is a component of the U.S. Olympic browsing team for the 2024 Paris Games. Starting July 27, she will probably be browsing the historic waves of Teahupo'o in Tahiti, removed from the Eiffel Tower. In her second Olympic Games, Marks has her sights set on the rostrum after narrowly missing out on a bronze medal in Tokyo.
Caroline has been spending as much time as possible on the End of the Road because it was added to the Women's Tour and is a Teahupo'o veteran, securing her first victory in Tahiti in 2023 over US teammate Caity Simmers.
Marks continues Florida’s decades-long tradition … pic.twitter.com/6GghdKtI0F
— World Surf League (@wsl) July 16, 2024
Growing up in Melbourne Beach, Florida, the third of six children, Marks desired to be like her brothers. Her first taste of sports was horseback riding and barrel racing. But if she desired to impress her brothers, Marks needed to try a more adventurous sport.
Then got here browsing. Her oldest brother Luke competed in junior and skilled competitions. Marks got into the water at age 7. There was a surf spot across the road from Marks' apartment in Melbourne Beach where she surfed for the primary time.
It wasn't only a sport she could beat her brothers at. Surfing became a viable profession.
The Marks family moved to San Clemente, California, a hotspot for surfers. The move to the Golden Coast was closely linked to Marks' rise. At age 11, Marks won the Surfing America Prime for under-12s, the premier amateur browsing competition. At age 15, Marks was the youngest competitor to qualify for the WSL Championship Tour. More titles followed in 2019, with Marks taking two wins and ending the yr in second place.
With the meteoric success got here enormous expectations. There was little question that Marks was a rising star in browsing. The query was, when would she win the highest events? For surfers, that's a World Championship and the Olympics.
In December 2019, Marks finished second on the WSL Championship Tour behind Carissa Moore, a five-time world champion and first Olympic gold medalist. This secured Marks a spot on the inaugural U.S. Olympic Surfing Team in Tokyo.
The first two rounds of the browsing competition are preliminary rounds. In the third round, the head-to-head knockout competition begins with the round of 16. This is followed by quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals. Marks made it to the semi-finals, where he lost to South African surfer Bianca Buitendag. In the duel for the bronze medal, Marks lost to Japanese Amuro Tsuzuki by 2.54 points.
“It obviously sucked,” said Marks. “I was really disappointed.”
Caroline Marks celebrates her title within the 2023 WSL final. At just 22 years old, the American star is traveling to the Olympic Games as a gold medal candidate. (Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)
Marks didn't realise the pressure as she rose up the browsing rankings. She was winning events at such a young age and the whole lot happened so quickly. She never lacked confidence, but crossing that threshold and becoming a world champion isn't easy.
In 2022, Marks missed half of the browsing season to, as she says, “deal with recurring medical and health issues.” She didn’t qualify for the WSL Finals.
Joy all the time accompanied Marks browsing, but today she admits that she put an excessive amount of pressure on herself and made her happiness depending on the outcomes.
“Surfing is your life, your purpose in life, it comes before anything else,” said Marks. “That's how it should be if you want to win and achieve something. You put so much into the preparation, don't get the result you want and then you get really depressed.”
Marks leaned on her support system. Family and friends. She lived by the motto, “If you don't win, you learn.” The disappointment of Tokyo become gratitude. She was thankful to be on the Olympic team, to surf with a job model like Moore, and to satisfy athletes like American long jumper Tara Davis-Woodhall within the Olympic Village.
It has inspired Marks to return to browsing as a more resilient athlete.
On her return to competition in June 2023, Marks won the El Salvador Surf City Pro, a WSL event, followed by a win on the Tahiti Pro, on the identical course as Paris 2024, culminating within the Rip Curl WSL Finals last September in Lower Trestles, California, her home state.
Marks entered the competition because the number three seed, defeating fourth-seeded Caitlin Simmers and second-seeded double world champion Tyler Wright en path to the ultimate, establishing a rematch against Moore.
Marks had a big group of supporters on the beach. Friends from California, family from Florida, coaches and support staff. All there to witness a possible coronation.
Marks didn’t disappoint. In the primary heat, she showed off her backhand and carving skills (the 180-degree activate the wave) with great force. The bottom turn and top turn underlined Marks' control of the wave. She scored 8.67 (out of 10) and compelled Moore to react. Marks' overall rating in the primary heat was 17.10 in comparison with 14.97 for Moore.
In the second run, Mark's maneuvers with the board earned her a rating of seven.00. She followed that up with a rating of seven.60, securing the title of world champion.
The World Champion 2023 🇺🇸 #CarolineMarks
Repeat the #RipCurlWSLFinals now https://t.co/ie0ZfMWjFw.@ripcurl pic.twitter.com/a4apPdBSey
— World Surf League (@wsl) 13 September 2023
When her fans lifted Marks up on the beach to have a good time her, she felt like “a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.” But the actual joy was celebrating with the individuals who had helped her achieve this crowning achievement.
“All of these people have made a sacrifice for me to get me where I need to be to achieve my goal, and I think this is just the best way to repay them,” Marks said.
With the Olympics just two weeks away, Marks is putting the ending touches to her preparations. She will arrive in Tahiti 10 days before the Olympic browsing competition begins. An opportunity to get used to the waves of Tahiti, deal with rest and rest, while having fun with time together with her parents, her two younger siblings and other members of the family.
Marks won’t be together with her fellow Americans on the opening ceremony. She will probably be on an island nearly 10,000 miles away. Her goal is to bring the hardware for the closing ceremony.
Marks admits she is a unique athlete and person since three years ago, but once she is on the board, she is free.
No phone. No distractions. Just a surfer trying to overcome the waves.
The athlete
image credit : www.nytimes.com