For Caroline Marks, It’s All Coming Full Circle

Caroline Marks has always been competitive, even before she hit the water. As a kid, her first foray into competitive sports was barrel racing. But by 8 years old, she started focusing on different kinds of barrels when she made the switch to surfing. “Growing up, my two older brothers were my biggest heroes. They obviously thought horseback riding was cool, but not as cool as surfing,” she says, “I started surfing just to get their acceptance, and then I fell in love with it.”

Her switch-up wasn’t completely out of left field, though. “I have always been so in love with the ocean. There is a photo of me with my dad on his longboard when I was super young,” Marks says. She started off in local competitions by her hometown of Melbourne Beach, Florida, but it wasn’t until the USA Championships at Lower Trestles that she realized how talented she was. “Everyone — the best kids from Hawaii, California, and the East Coast — all come and compete at Lower Trestles, which is a world-class wave,” Marks says. She competed against the other U12 (12 and younger) girls and came in first place. “That was when I got super hooked. I just remember the feeling of getting to surf all day with my friends, winning this big trophy, and having my brothers cheer for me. Like, how could I not want to do this forever?”

It’s mid-January and the middle of Marks’ off season when we meet over Zoom to chat about her career. She’s calling in from her home in San Clemente, California, and there’s a surfboard on the wall behind her. As we chat, it’s clear that her first major victory is still one of her favorite memories. “Lower Trestles is where I knew I wanted to be a pro surfer. And then 11 years later, that’s where I won my first world title,” she adds. “It was a full-circle moment.”

I’ve always felt like ‘Oh, this is exactly what I want to be doing.’

At 15, she had no problem prioritizing her athletic career. She became the youngest surfer to qualify for the Championship Tour. “I basically grew up on the world tour, which is so cool, but obviously, comes with challenges. You’re away from loved ones a lot,” she says. “But I don’t have any FOMO, like ‘Oh, I missed prom.’ I’ve always felt like this is exactly what I want to be doing. This is my passion.”

Marks, now 23, has had plenty of wins under her belt. Beyond becoming the 2023 World Surf League Women’s World Tour Champion, Marks is also a two-time Olympian, winning the gold in Paris in 2024. She’s done two Sports Illustrated Swimsuit shoots and has a long-term partnership with Roxy. “When you’re younger, you’re just like, ‘I want to be a Roxy girl so bad.’ All of my favorite surfers wore Roxy — it’s all about being feminine and also a bad*ss in the water." In August 2025, she was inducted into the Surfers’ Hall of Fame in Huntington Beach, California, and in September, she placed second in the 2025 WSL Championship. “Obviously, all I want to do is win, but I was proud of that performance,” she says.

Ahead of the 2026 tour, which starts in April, Marks has been enjoying the downtime and using it to focus on self-growth. “I finally have time to reflect on what I’ve accomplished,” she says. “The last few years have been go-go-go.”

Despite the hectic schedule, it’s clear that on tour is exactly where Marks wants to be. She lights up when I ask about the mechanics of surfing — specifically, the inherent skill and strategic decisions that differentiate good surfers from great ones. “A very big part of our sport is being in tune with the ocean. There’s never the same wave even if you are at the same break,” she says. “The ocean keeps you humble, for sure.”

It can be frustrating and challenging, but that makes those perfect moments — like getting barreled (the picture-perfect moment when the wave forms a tunnel and the surfer rides it from the inside out) — all the more powerful. “Getting barreled is definitely one of the ultimate feelings as a surfer. You travel to the other side of the world just to find a barrel, which is saying a lot,” she says. “You’re just in this tunnel of water, and it’s almost like time freezes. It’s a running joke. You’ll think ‘Oh, I got the longest barrel,’ and when you look at the footage, it’s like three seconds.”

As she looks ahead, Marks is still chasing those highs — hoping for “a lot of wins, a lot of really good waves, and a lot of barrels” in the 2026 season. “2026 is going to be a fun year because there have been some changes to our schedule. We’re starting in Australia, and we’re finishing in Hawaii,” she says. “This is also the longest off season I’ve had in my career, so I’m excited to feel really refreshed going into the season. I’m manifesting a lot of really good times and memories.”

She’s come a long way since her early days on tour when she was scared of “annoying” the other pros with too many questions. Now, the surfers she grew up idolizing — Carissa Moore, Stephanie Gilmore, and Kelly Slater — are her peers. Still, Marks says her favorite surfing buddies are the people who inspired her to get in the water in the first place: her brothers. “When I surf with my brothers, it just reminds me of core memories growing up in Florida. That’s where it all started. That’s what makes me the happiest.”