American Caroline Marks won a gold medal in shortboard surfing at the Paris Games on Monday and continued to alter the arc of her career.
Her future was unclear in 2022 when she abruptly left the World Surf League (WSL) for what she later explained stemmed from recurring medical and mental health issues.
She came back better than ever, winning the 2023 WSL Finals, and her ascent continues.
Marks’ gold medal in the women’s shortboard competition in Teahupo’o, Tahiti, came after she capitalized early in the 35-minute final. Brazil’s Tatiana Weston-Webb won silver and France’s Johanne Defay bronze.
Marks advanced with a semifinal win over Defay on a tiebreak.
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The conditions in Teahupo’o, one of the world’s best surf sites, created delays that stretched the competition to the final day of the 10-day window allotted to finish the event.
The timing of Marks’ triumph is ideal for U.S. surfing.
Carissa Moore, the dominant force in women’s surfing for the past decade, entered the Paris Games hoping to defend her Olympic title after winning gold at the 2021 Tokyo Games in the sport’s Olympic debut.
But Moore failed to make it to the medal rounds at the competition in Teahupo’o and said afterward she was going to take a break before deciding whether she would continue surfing competitively.
Enter Marks, 22, positioned to take the mantle from Moore with 18-year-old Caitlin Simmers also emerging as a star on the U.S. surfing scene.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Caroline Marks wins gold in Olympic surfing
