Exclusive! Caroline Marks still processing surfing championship, making Olympic team

Coffee and a cough drop were the only items on Caroline Marks' breakfast menu Sunday morning.

Hoarse, but happy, after a long night of celebration and just a few hours of adrenaline-interrupted sleep, Marks graciously accommodated one interview — right here — a day after her remarkable performance at Lower Trestles, Calif., where she locked up her first World Surf League championship and her second trip to the Olympics.

"I woke up thinking, wow, that all happened yesterday; it was crazy," she said. "I'm floating on a cloud, on top of the world, really. I'm just grateful for everything, to be honest. It's really a surreal feeling. I don't know if it's all sunken in yet. I'm living on a high."

The Melbourne Beach native, who lives in San Clemente, Calif. — 10 minutes from the famed Lower Trestles surf break — powered her way through four convincing victories as the No. 3 seed in the third annual Rip Curl Finals on Saturday, unleashing a steady diet of huge, vertical, spraying snaps.

Progressively, she said she found her rhythm, especially after clinching the Team USA berth with a pressure-packed win against Oceanside's Caitlin Simmers. Then, she eliminated two-time world champion Tyler Wright and five-time world champ Carissa Moore of Hawaii in a two-heat sweep.

On top of the world: Caroline Marks wins world surfing title, Olympics berth

"The first heat was pretty nerve-wracking," she said. "I was confident but, like, this is the first heat, and I got through that. Against Tyler, I got some good scores, my timing felt good on each wave, and each heat I just felt more relaxed. Things were happening so fast.

"Honestly, it was just so much fun to get Lowers to myself; that is really rare, especially a perfect Lowers," she said, explaining that sometimes more than 100 surfers gather in that area.

Asked if they'd now make way for surfing's new queen, she joked, "I don't think so."

Marks' victory reverberated around the 260,000 viewers who tuned in to the six-hour live telecast and the subsequent "Catch-Up" wrap-up show, putting a global spotlight on Melbourne Beach, and once again, on Brevard County.

"Obviously, it's a big thing for the Space Coast to have another world champion, and somebody who looks like she could win many more," said John Hughes, Executive Director of the Florida Surf Museum on Cocoa Beach, who joked that he might have to "modify the building" to expand Marks' exhibit.

"The bigger the waves, and the more powerful they got, Caroline just seemed ... it was like her comfort zone," he said. "Her power and energy is just at another level for women's surfing. It's like what Kelly (Slater) did for the men, raised everybody's level."

Marks, who collected the 21st world surfing title for a Florida-born surfer, is only the third woman (Flagler Beach's Frieda Zamba and Ormond Beach's Lisa Andersen each won four times during the '80s and '90s) from the state to be crowned champion. Marks also is only the third surfer from Brevard County to wear the crown, following Slater's legacy of 11 titles and CJ Hobgood, who won in 2001, three months before she was born.

"I don't know of any crazy words (to describe her performance)," Hobgood said Sunday afternoon. "I just can't believe how young she is, and just being from this area, and we're still producing world champions. Just crazy that it spans so many generations."

Hobgood recalled the final day of the 2001 season at Sunset Beach, Hawaii, when "six or seven" surfers had the chance to win the title under a different format. None of those in contention won that day, but Hobgood had accumulated enough points during the 9/11-shortened season to win the sport's biggest prize.

"So many things have changed since Frieda was winning and Lisa was winning, and Kelly ... the fact she's 21, just a kid, when she won it, I'm in awe of that. She's on a roll for sure," he said.

Slater, too, was impressed, sending a social media text that read, in part, “The potential has been there for years, so it’s great to see it come together for you, Caroline! Great job.”

Hobgood had attended last month's WSL event in Tahiti, where Marks won that title, as well. Ironically, Hobgood was coaching Moore (the youngest to ever win a surfing title at age 18) in that event, and now both surfers again will represent Team USA in the Paris Olympics, where the French Polynesian island of Teahupoʻo, Tahiti, will be the site.

"The Olympics (in Tokyo in 2021) was one of the coolest experiences of my life," Marks said. "To represent my country, and going back to Tahiti gives me a lot of confidence. It's one of my favorite waves. I kept telling myself it'd be really special to win the (world) title because I'd make the Olympics, too."

Andersen, who attended the Rip Curl Finals and whose last title came in 1997, has been a good friend to Marks, connecting her to the Roxy team, one of her major sponsors along with Red Bull.

"It was so special seeing her; she's been so cool to me," Marks said. "She handed me the bottle of Champagne (on stage) and later we had a drink together. That was one of those (scenarios) I'd write down in my journal as a kid and, look, it all (happened) that way."

Marks was winning pro contests at such a young age, her father, Darren, once, frantically — if not comically — rushed the stage telling well-wishers not to pour or spray beer on his daughter since she was just 15 when she won the first of two Florida Pro contests at Sebastian Inlet.

"I'm 21 now, so everything is good," Marks said, with a raspy laugh.

Two of the Space Coast's legends of women's surfing, both in the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame, said they've also been impressed by Marks' phenomenal ability and her pleasant demeanor.

Satellite Beach's Mary Ann Hayes, who finished second in the 1972 World (Amateur) Championships, said, "She has a very clean, powerful style, and she rose to the occasion. She seems to have what it takes (to keep winning championships) and she's a really classy person."

Hayes also won the U.S. Amateur title in 1978, all "for fun and free ... I wish I had made some money, but I wouldn't have done it any differently."

Sharon Wolfe Cranston, a 2010 Hall of Fame inductee, also enjoyed watching Marks' heroics.

"She's just a powerhouse," she said. "Her turns, and I'm not taking anything against the other girls, but they just weren't comparing to the others. She was going vertical, past vertical, and (with) powerful maneuvers. She's a super, solid surfer. It's kind of like when you were looking at a young Kelly, you saw something there, and it's the same with Caroline. It just seemed like her day."

Wolfe Cranston, who won six national amateur titles and two East Cast Surfing Championships, said she's not too surprised someone like Marks won the world title, only because of the strong amateur programs and the fact the male surfers, like Marks' brothers, are always setting examples.

"I'm really stoked she brought it back to Florida," she said.

It's been an incredible six-month season for Marks, who also won two events earlier this year; finished second twice; pushed her career heat win percentage to better than 56%; and clinched the world championship just a short bike ride from her home.

Saturday night's celebration, set up by the WSL, included a DJ and plenty of good friends and supporters from Florida and California.

Monday, the mayor of San Clemente organized a parade through the city's streets to honor Marks and men's champion Filipe Toledo of Brazil, as well as native son Griffin Colapinto, who finished third in the men's rankings.

Marks, a horse lover who once was a champion barrel racer until older brother Luke showed her how much fun surfing can be, is amazed that so many little girls are asking for her autograph.

"It's really cool and amazing ... I still have my heroes (Moore, Andersen and Stephanie Gilmore, an eight-time world champion)," she said. "It's all really special. I just hope to be the best role model I can be."

Complete results and final rankings can be found on the WorldSurfLeague.com website.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Caroline Marks processes WSL championship, sets sights on Olympics