17-year-old Moore wins Gidget Pro women’s surf contest

Teen phenom Carissa Moore’s  ascent through the surfing world went even higher yesterday when she won the Gidget Pro women’s contest at Sunset Beach and took home a $12,000 first-place check .

It was the latest and most impressive victory in what has already been a memorable career for Moore, who is 17 and a senior at Punahou High School in Hawaii.

The contest was part of the ASP Women’s World Tour, so the field featured all of the world’s top-ranked female surfers, including three-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore and second place finisher Sally Fitzgibbons both of Australia. Fitzgibbons managed a perfect 10 at Sunset but with all the great rides, even that wasn’t enough to land her atop the podium.

Moore will become eligible for the tour in 2010. She qualified for the Gidget Pro by winning a trials heat held prior to the contest.

Moore started gaining recognition at age 11, when she was already dominating the small-wave amateur competitions. This weekend she proved that she can beat the pros in powerful waves and she was understandably stoked as you’ll see in this Triple Crown report on the comp.

.

Gidget Pro final results

1, Carissa Moore (Hawai’i), $12,000.

2, Sally Fitzgibbons (Australia), $7,000.

3, Stephanie Gilmore (Australia), $5,100.

4, Alana Blanchard (Hawai’i), $4,900.

5 (tie), Chelsea Hedges (Australia) and Malia Manuel (Hawai’i), $4,600.

7 (tie), Melanie Bartels (Hawai’i) and Coco Ho (Hawai’i), $4,400.

9 (tie), Megan Abubo (Hawai’i), Samantha Cornish (Australia), Silvana Lima (Brazil) and Bruna Schmitz (Brazil), $3,600.

13 (tie), Laurina McGrath (Australia), Jacqueline Silva (Brazil), Paige Hareb (New Zealand) and Bethany Hamilton (Hawai’i), $3,400.