Three surfing legends are making their highly anticipated return to professional competition this week as the elite world tour launches its 50th season at Australia’s renowned Bells Beach. Veterans Stephanie Gilmore, Carissa Moore, and Gabriel Medina are stepping back into the spotlight to compete against an emerging generation of athletes who have transformed the sport’s competitive landscape.
The returning champions, who each took time away from competition for personal reasons, will encounter heightened competition levels on the 12-event tour, especially during contests featuring massive, challenging waves.
“I am so stoked to be back,” said Moore, a five-time world champion who welcomed her first child last year. “Being away for two years really gave me a renewed sense of appreciation for the sport – getting to do something that pushes me out of my comfort zone every day and challenges me and takes me around the world and meet great people.”
The Hawaiian champion previously captured Olympic gold in Tokyo and sat out the 2024 season to prepare for defending her title at Tahiti’s dangerous Teahupo’o reef break. While competing pregnant with daughter Olena, Moore failed to medal and subsequently dedicated time to motherhood while watching the sport from afar.
“Yeah, it’s been fun to be a fan the last two years, I’ll tell you that,” the 33-year-old athlete commented. “I’ve been super impressed with how everybody’s been competing and raising the level of the sport, especially in waves of consequence.”
Moore and Australia’s Gilmore, age 38, controlled women’s professional surfing for over ten years, accumulating 13 world championships combined. During their hiatus, a group of twenty-something competitors spearheaded by 2025 champion Molly Picklum, Olympic gold winner Caroline Marks, and 2024 top-ranked Caitlin Simmers have delivered exceptional performances in powerful surf conditions at Teahupo’o and Hawaii’s Pipeline.
However, even these accomplished athletes may need to watch for an emerging talent in French teenager Tya Zebrowski, who becomes the youngest competitor ever to join the elite tour at just 15 years old.
In men’s competition, Brazil’s Medina is returning from injury but won’t be able to continue his famous rivalry with Hawaii’s John John Florence, who chose to spend another year sailing globally with his family. This leaves the 32-year-old Brazilian and his compatriots Yago Dora, the current champion, and two-time titleholder Filipe Toledo to compete against California’s Griffin Colapinto and Australians Jack Robinson and Ethan Ewing for the championship.
Competition begins Wednesday at Bells Beach, with the tour traveling through nine nations before concluding at Pipeline in surfing’s traditional home in December. The schedule includes New Zealand’s Raglan as a new venue, offering the high-performance left-hand waves many competitors have desired, while Australia’s Gold Coast and California’s Lower Trestles return to the lineup.
Uncertainty surrounds the wave pool competition planned for Abu Dhabi in October due to ongoing Middle East conflicts. In a significant format change announced previously, the World Surf League eliminated its controversial winner-takes-all finale, returning to a cumulative scoring system for determining champions. The final Pipeline event will carry 1.5 times the points of regular tour stops to acknowledge its special significance.
A recent addition is the maternity wild card program starting in 2027, an initiative that particularly pleased Moore. “I hope that I can inspire other moms to keep doing what they love too,” Moore stated. “I am excited about and motivated to push myself in ways that I haven’t before, and see who I can become and how I can become a better person, a better mom, a better wife, a better sister, friend, daughter, all those things.”
