The World Surf League’s Tour kicks off the season on Apr 1st for the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach and we can’t wait to see some phenomenal surfing. One of the competitors that we will have our eye on is Caroline Marks WSL Champion for 2023, Olympic Gold Medalist from Paris 2024 and is currently ranked World #2 for the 2025 season.

We wanted to know more about her love for surfing, how she came to it, and how she stays in shape when she is hitting those barrels! We also wanted to know more about her soon to be released Red Bull film, Now Days, her brand Pro Balance Brands, and her recent ambassadorship with Lexus!

ATHLEISURE MAG: It’s so great to connect with you!

CAROLINE MARKS: Hello! I’m currently over in Australia. I’m starting my season, actually the first day of the waiting period is tomorrow!

AM: It’s great to have you as this month’s cover!

CM: I’m really excited. You’ve had a couple people I know on the cover, so that’s pretty cool. I just surfed this morning, now I am talking with you, and then I will be back out surfing!

AM: We assumed!

What is your first memory of surfing and when did you fall in love with it?

CM: My first memory is pretty funny, because there’s actually a photo of it. I was in Costa Rica with my dad and I was on the front of his longboard. I was super young, maybe 3 years old. Then there’s another photo of me and I’m literally standing parallel and my borther’s like in the ackground and he’s kind of making that, “oh my gosh face.” I have a little bow in my hair and it’s pretty cute. I remember falling in love with it. It’s pretty funny because I surfed when I was little and then I actually got into horseback riding while growing up. I loved animals and stuff so I actually wanted to be a veterinarian when I was younger and then started barrel racing competitively, and did that until I was 10 and then didn’t really surf much then.

My oldest brother Luke was a competitive surfer so I kind of just thought surfing was his thing and I just kind of let him do his thing and I rode horses, and then I pretty much just wanted to impress my brothers really bad, and that’s why I started surfing. Then I remember when I was 11 years old, I was at the U12s Girls. There’s this event called USA Championships at Lower Trestles and it’s the biggest amateur event as a kid. All the best kids from Hawaii, all the east coast kids, and all the west coast kids come out and compete at Lowers and I ended up entering the event just because my brother was in it and I ended up winning. I was like, “whoa, I must be all right at this!” I just remember getting this big trophy and surfing all day and just having so much fun. I couldn’t believe this is a thing you can do you know? So, I remember from that moment forward, that I want to do this. This is so fun. So that’s where I really was like, I want to be a professional surfer. Wherever it takes me, I’m having so much fun.

AM: Not to say that there is, but is there a similarity or some kind of crossover between barrel racing and surfing for you?

CM: I mean, yeah, if you think about it, I was actually talking about this the other day in an interview, which is funny. I never thought of it like this, but you are on something that’s very out of your control. The ocean’s very, very out of your control. You’re on an animal and you don’t really know what it’s going to do. You can try to control it, but you really can’t. You know, they have a mind of their own.

I guess trying to go fast, like in surfing, going fast is a good thing. It’s like riding horses, that’s kind of like an art. And so certainly, you’re swerving around the barrels and in surfing, you’re riding the waves. I guess there is a little bit of crossover, more than I realized. So it’s pretty funny.

I’ve got some funny photos when I was like little. It was pretty classic.

AM: Obviously surfing on its own is a great sport, you know, for the total body to stay in shape. But what are work3outs that you do to optimize yourself in the sport?

CM: I love Pilates! Core and surfing is really important. I do a lot of lower leg work in surfing. Definitely having strong legs is really important because obviously you’re on the board a lot. I also love swimming because it’s just really good for your paddling and really good for your lungs and breathing and stuff. So those 3 things I do as well as cycle in between. Biking and swimming are kind of the things that I go back and forth between, but I mostly do Pilates and then just typical stuff in the gym with my trainers.

AM: What is your favorite maneuver when you’re surfing?

CM: This isn’t really a maneuver, but getting barreled is probably the ultimate feeling as a surfer!

AM: Oh wow!

CM: Oh yeah! You’re obviously in the tunnel of the waves.

AM: It looks so beautiful, but it looks so scary at the same time!

CM: Oh yeah, it is a bit of both for sure, but definitely getting barreled is something that’s just such an amazing feeling and then just doing a big frontside carve obviously just like laying into a big turn that always feels really good going really fast and just like laying into it. So those two things I like!

AM: You are a 2X Olympian who won a Gold medal in Paris. What has that meant to you to surf on such a global stage – you have had many stages, but what does it mean to do it for the Olympics?

CM: The Olympics, it doesn’t really get any bigger than that you know? It’s obviously a very global thing. It’s one of the only things that brings the whole world together. Not everyone knows about surfing, but everyone knows about the Olympics.

AM: Right.

CM: I was really proud to represent my country on that big of a stage and obviously to win. I mean, it’s just so incredible. It’s definitely the proudest moment in my career. I mean, it’s obviously about the world title. It’s hard to say one win for a WSL Championship versus the Olympics as both were the biggest dreams of mine as a little girl and the fact that I did both of them at 22 is pretty crazy! I am super grateful. It was amazing and it’s pretty hard to describe the feeling of being able to represent your country, but I’m really proud.

AM: Are you thinking about LA28?

CM: Of course! I want to be in as many Olympics as possible, but obviously, you know, LA28, it’s at a wave that’s like Lower Trestles. It’s 5 minutes from my house and obviously to be the hosting nation is just extra motivation because, it’s at home, which is pretty incredible. So I’m definitely thinking about it for sure.

AM: We can see you there! Anytime we’ve seen you surf, we can see you’re in your element and are just happy to be one with the water, it’s all zen and then we see you owning that barrel!

CM: Surfing has brought me everything really - a lot of the best moments of my life. I’ve met some of my best friends through surfing. The ocean is such a healing place for me, which is pretty cool to be able to say that about my job.

AM: Yeah.

CM: My career is - I just go in the ocean. Your day is instantly better, which is pretty amazing.

AM: You just mentioned at the top that the World Surf League Championship Tour kicks off its 50th season starting tomorrow for the first on-call day in Australia for the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach at Bells Beach in Victoria, Australia from Apr 1 – Apr 11th. What are you looking forward to as it kicks off?

CM: Yeah. I mean, first off, we’ve had our longest off-season of our career.

AM: Yeah.

CM: Just with them changing it around the schedule. It used to be - well way back, before it was my first couple years on tour it was April - December and then they switched it to January – September. It’s been that way for 5 years and now it’s back to April so in order for them to do that, we ended up having a 7 month long off season which for us, that’s a very long time. So usually our off season is pretty short compared to other sports. I think everyone’s just very excited because you haven’t really seen us in jerseys in a while! We also have some of the goats coming back like Carissa Moore and Stephanie Gilmore, which is amazing and they also extended the Women’s Tour, so there’s a lot of like milestones that have been broken this year already! I think everyone’s just really excited to see what happens. I have no doubt it’s just going to be a firework of a year. So I’m pretty excited.

AM: What’s your favorite one on the WSL Tour?

CM: Well, that’s a hard one. I know.

AM: We ask the tough questions!

CM: It’s a hard one. I mean, Cloudbreak’s pretty incredible. It’s such an incredible wave. Jeffreys Bay, which actually is not on tour this year, but it’s in South Africa, that’s another iconic one. Tahiti, obviously, just from winning the Gold there. I just have a lot of great memories there. And then Lower Trestles, of course. Lowers and Tahiti are probably my favorites, just with Lowers being in my backyard. It’s just such a fun wave. But it’s hard because everywhere has such beautiful things about it. But I’d say Lowers is probably my favorite wave on tour.

AM: Clearly you travel around the world to different places quite frequently. Are there 3 items that you tend to take with you to make any city or stop kind of feel like home?

CM: I mean, definitely. I’m not really one to bring a pillow. We just have so much stuff. We have our board bag, all of our clothes, and stuff like that. But I think just like a shirt from home, something I sleep in at home, just bringing it on the road. It’s the little things like that which kind of make me feel more at home or your favorite coffee cup or whatever things just make you feel more homey. But I feel like I’ve gotten so used to traveling that I’m able to adapt to it pretty quickly. I do travel with an eye mask. That’s something I do travel with to sleep on the planes with. That’s important. But nothing too crazy. Actually, this year my sister-in-law packed me a good luck charm in my bag so I just leave it in my luggage and it goes everywhere I go which is pretty cool!

AM: You definitely know it’s always there because it’s just in the luggage waiting to go.

CM: Exactly! i just leave it in there and it’s a little good luck charm which is kind of cool. I’m not too much of a creature of habit in that sense. I kind of just go with the flow.

AM: We had the pleasure of watching the screener for Now Days right before chatting with you. This is such a great film and so enjoyable to watch. It’s shot beautifully and it’s really great to see the 6 of you being able to navigate the waves and to tell your story. You recently had an event for this here in NY even though the film debuts in May. Why did you love being part of this film and what can you tell us about this?

CM: Thank you so much. I’m stoked you got to watch it. First off, there hasn’t been an all female surf film since 2011 and that was Leave a Message. That film left such an impact on me and I know it has for many other girls. It was so cool to see that. As much as it sounds simple to do, an all-female star film, it’s so difficult to get everyone together. We all have crazy schedules from different countries. We’re also each other’s biggest rivals.

AM: Right.

CM: That’s another thing that’s pretty funny, but I’m just really proud of it. I think, you know, obviously hopefully it inspires the next generation. And I feel like... that’s kind of our job in this generation is to inspire the next one and to push this forward and grow this forward and that’s what the generations did before us! That’s why we have equal pay. The girls in this film and this generation, I feel like we just had very good timing. All the girls before us that fought for this and for us and so now this film hopefully inspires the next generation to go harder and to push more. I’m really confident in that and I’m just really proud of it you know? It’s like two and a half years in the making coming to Red Bull and anything they put their hands on is pretty special. I knew the surfing was going to be amazing, but I also love how it tells a story of “hey, we all obviously want to win.

Surfing is a very cutthroat individual sport, but we also like pushing each other in a healthy environment and we are all good friends.” You know, I see these girls more than my family most of the year.

AM: Yeah.

CM: I’m with them so much. So, it really shows that. And we’re all able to relate to each other in a way that we probably won’t with our other friends, because we live this exact same life. So, yeah, I’m super proud of it and I just hope that the young girls, young guys, whoever watches it is just really inspired and wants to go surfing. It’s pretty cool to see the fruits of the labor because it definitely was a lot of work, but it was worth it!

AM: 100%! One of the things we like most about Red Bull films is when they have a number of individuals within the same sport, like Mark McMorris who was our cover this past December, he had just debuted PAVED.

CM: Yeah.

AM: It’s incredible to see people in a sport, but to see the individuality as well as the things that bind them together, it’s just so cool. We don’t surf; however, living in NY we love the surfing culture in Rockaway and Long Beach. It’s so cool to see how surfers show drive, grace, and flow which is what is evident in this film. People are going to enjoy it once it premieres.

CM: Thanks so much! I hope so. There’s definitely been even for this event, there’s been a lot of people asking about it, which has been really cool to see the hype around it. You know, it was something that was out of my comfort zone. Like I’ve always been so just hyper focused on competing and winning. That’s really what it takes in order to win. So this was cool because it was something that was new to me and different. I’ve never done a film like this before. So I was really proud of that.

AM: Well, you also just became a surf ambassador for Lexus, which is awesome. Why are you excited about this partnership? And why did you feel it was synergistic to your brand?

CM: Yeah, I mean, first off, Lexus makes such cool cars. And one of my friends, Griffin Colapinto, he got signed a year prior to me.

AM: Another cover of ours.

CM: Yeah! So I think just seeing the car and seeing how it fits my lifestyle, it’s a great combination between, sporty and luxury - I really like that. I like how they celebrate that. Also just getting to know everyone behind Lexus, everyone’s really cool. It’s a very family-oriented vibe, and I come from a big family, so I really love that. And so... I feel like it was a great partnership. I got one here in Australia with me and everyone’s like, nice car, nice wheels. I’m getting all the compliments on it.

AM: Wow.

CM: It’s pretty cool. I got to roll to the first event in style, it looks so cool.

AM: We have a Lexus SUV which is great because sometimes for the magazine between photography gear, styling items, transporting the team to shoots or even doing an event with goodie bags, you need to be able to carry everything – it needs to be fashionable, but you want to be able to get to where you have to go with everything in one piece.

CM: Absolutely. I feel like it fits all my boards. It fits wetsuits, everything I need. And also like it’s comfortable and it’s safe and it’s sturdy. And I also just love it aesthetically. I love and have the GX 550. I love the way it looks. So that’s also a bonus. I’m proud to drive the car. So yeah, it’s awesome.

AM: Well, what does the partnership look like in terms of what can we expect to see you doing with them and with the car? What will that look like from a consumer side?

CM: So Griffin and I, we’re going to do some collab videos here. We’re both in Australia, which will be pretty fun. So there’s a lot of beautiful beaches here, a lot of great scenery. So stay tuned for a cool video with that. And obviously, you know, I’m going to be traveling a lot this year. But wherever they provide me a car, we’re going to be providing content. Lexus sponsors the U.S. Open, so I look forward to seeing what they have in store for this year’s event. I think I’m doing a signing with them. We have great things coming up. And yeah, I’m really excited about it.

AM: Clearly you’re a business person as an athlete and someone who has a number of sponsors, and you have added to your portfolio by creating your own brand, Pro Balance Bands. Tell us about this and why did you want to launch it?

CM: Thanks for asking. It’s cool. My dad, he’s very business-minded. He comes from that background. He taught me a lot about that side of the world, which is really cool. I really trust his opinion. I think after the Gold medal, we kind of thought, how do we capitalize on this? The bands felt so natural to me and and my main thing was, I travel a lot and I don’t want to put a product out that I can’t travel with because most of my life is on the road, So the bands feels so perfect. I’ve also been training with them since I started working out way more consistently in 2019, my second year on tour and that was the year I made the first Olympics. I just use bands everywhere and I bring them everywhere I go. They come in like a little pouch. It’s great and you can do a lot with bands so it felt so natural and it’s been really fun.

It’s my first time starting a company and obviously I have a lot of help doing it, but, it’s been really cool and all the bands are really good material. I use them every single day. So it’s great. You’ll see me if you watch the webcast warming up with them. So I’m really proud of it and it’s been going good so far. I think we’re going to come out with some new products as well.

AM: Nice.

CM: We started with the bands, but we’re going to keep adding more things in. We also have weekly videos of myself, my brother, our other ambassadors doing videos as well. My trainer too, he does videos, which is cool. So if you want to know how I train, you just go on the website Pro Balance Bands or on our YouTube. It’s exciting and I’m enjoying it. It’s been fun.

AM: Well, when you’re not on tour or shooting campaigns or doing all these different things, how do you take time for yourself just to have a moment to yourself?

CM: Honestly, I’m a pretty simple girl. I love just being with my friends whether it’s as simple as, you know, going to get a coffee or going out for dinner or watching the sunset. Things like that bring me a lot of joy. I think just kind of being in one place and being with good people - I call it my “feel good people.” When you’re around people you really know, there’s no effort.

AM: Exactly.

CM: You end up leaving hanging out with them with more in your battery - it becomes more full. It’s how I recharge. And I also do love my own alone time as well. I just love whether that’s just sitting on my couch at home or just going for a drive, that’s also really therapeutic to me as well or going on a beach walk or whatever. Things like that sound really silly, but that’s kind of how, what helps me unwind and I love that.

AM: Being that you’re in that next generation of surfers, you’re trailblazing, you’ve gotten all these different awards and accolades. What do you want your legacy to be seen as in this sport or even in life?

CM: I mean, I just really want girls and people in general to be inspired. I love surfing. It’s really fun to me and I hope I kind of give off that persona. I just want to leave a legacy of being hardworking, but also enjoying your life too. You know, it can’t always just be like work, work, work like this. We live such an amazing life and we should enjoy it. And there’s more to it than surfing too. We’re in these different countries. We’re in different cultures. It’s really cool. Obviously surfing is what brought me here. But there’s so much more than that. And I think hopefully I can leave a legacy of just a really positive outlook on life, surfing, and fun. I hope that makes sense.

AM: It does. We always think about that when you’re doing stuff, especially now that obviously we live in an age where people can see stuff socially, you’re touching corners of the world that someone who grew up that isn’t living your life or experiences personally, they can envision that for themselves. Maybe if it’s not that same thing, but something similar and it just creates a spark and wonder. So that’s really cool.

IG @caroline_markss