Caroline Marks is an American professional surfer of Greek ancestry. She is a multiple national champion and the youngest female to compete in a World Surf League event. She is the youngest surfer ever to qualify for the women’s Championship Tour. She competed in the elite of the World Surf League and ended 2018 season in 7th place, becoming Rookie of the Year. She was born in Boca Raton, Florida on 14 February 2002 and lives in Melbourne Beach, Florida. On December 1st, 2019, Caroline qualified as one of the two women of the USA’s first surfing team to compete in the 2020 summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.
Early years
Being the third of six children, Marks grew up in Melbourne Beach, Florida. The house she grew up in had a big backyard with a motorbike-track, halfpipe, and a surf break across the street. She discovered her love of sports, first on horseback through barrel racing. She began surfing when she was 8. Coming from a large family, Caroline and her siblings all support and encourage each other in their individual passions. When her older brother Zach was 12, he created a social media site for kids called . Caroline helped create images and characters for that site to interact with users. It is now an app available on all mobile platforms and she continues to post on it as her own profile 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.
Career
In 2018, her first year on tour, she had three third-place finishes in 10 events, was named rookie of the year and finished the season ranked seventh in the world. In April 2019, at the first event of the WSL Championship tour, Marks defeated seven-time world championStephanie Gilmore at the Australian's home break of Duranbah, New South Wales in the quarter-finals of the Boost Mobile ProGold Coast. She then continued through the semi-finals beating Malia Manuel from Kauai. In the finals, she defeated three-time world champion Carissa Moore from Oahu, to claim her first WSL event title. 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.” In 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.
