FILE PHOTO: Paris 2024 Olympics - Surfing - Women's Round 1 - Heat 8 - Teahupo'o, Tahiti, French Polynesia - July 27, 2024. Carissa Moore of United States rides in the barrel. Ben Thouard/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
(Reuters) -Olympic gold medallist Carissa Moore will rejoin surfing's world tour in 2026 after giving birth to a baby girl earlier this year, the World Surf League said on Thursday.
The five-times world champion's last competitive appearance was at the Paris Olympics, where she lost out in the quarter-finals while two months pregnant.
"To put my jersey back on after having a baby feels like such a win," Hawaii's Moore said. "I want my journey to show my daughter, and hopefully other women, that we can do anything; we can keep chasing our dreams, even as life evolves."
The 33-year-old won surfing's first Olympic gold medal at the Tokyo Games in 2021 and she returns to the sport with a home Olympics on the horizon in Los Angeles in 2028.
She was ranked as the most consistent performer ever on the professional world tour, finishing outside the top three just once in 13 seasons between 2010 and 2023.
Moore became the youngest surfer in history to win a world title in 2011 at just 18, though that record was beaten by Californian teenager Caitlin Simmers last year.
The popular Hawaiian will have her work cut out against a crop of talented youngsters on her return to competition including Simmers, Australia's 2025 world champion Molly Picklum and 14-year-old French star Tya Zebrowski.
"I’m really excited for the opportunity to compete again on the championship tour," Moore said. "Competing at the highest level of surfing is something I don’t take for granted, and I’m so grateful to be feeling healthy and reinvigorated."
(Reporting by Lincoln Feast in Sydney; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
