- WSL / Laurent Masurel
- WSL / Laurent Masurel

In her eight years on the elite Championship Tour, Carissa Moore has won three World Titles, and countless contests along the way. In fact, she has never finished a season ranked lower than World No. 3 -- a remarkable feat in any sport, much less one with so much unpredictability. Of those, she has had only one winless season, in 2012 -- that is, until now.

Carissa Moore (HAW) get prepared before Heat 4 of Round Three at Cascais Women's Pro 2017 in Cascais, Portugal In the midst of her biggest career slump, Moore's been doing a lot of soul searching. - WSL / Damien Poullenot

From purely a numbers standpoint, this season has been Moore's most sluggish on record. Heading into the Cascais Women's Pro, so far in 2017 she had yet to make it past the Quarterfinals. That, however, finally changed on Wednesday. She got past a surging Sage Erickson in the Quarterfinal, then defeated Malia Manuel in the Semis before falling to her friend Nikki Van Dijk in the Final.

"It's been an up and down year so I'm so stoked just to make it past the Quarterfinals," Moore said afterward. "The Final was just the cherry on top of a great day."

3X World Champion Carissa Moore of Hawaii advances to the Final of the 2017 Cascais Women's Pro after defeating fellow Hawaiian Malia Manuel in Semifinal Heat 2 at Cascais, Portugal. Moore's surfing has been solid throughout 2017, but she's enduring some of the worst contest results of her career. - WSL / Damien Poullenot

While her winless streak continues, Moore seems to have found some momentum, and with the tour headed to Hossegor next for the Roxy Pro France, she'll likely try to carry that with her. Her heat win percentage (HWP) in that event is a solid 71 percent -- a full 4 percent higher than that of Stephanie Gilmore, the next-best at that event. At the same time, Moore's average heat score (AHS) is 14.31 points, which also leads the pack.

Moore jumped to No. 7 on the Jeep Leaderboard thanks to her runner-up finish in Cascais, which means she's off the requalification bubble for now. And while she's not in the World Title race, you can bet she'll be looking to play spoiler down the line. What better way to throw a spanner into the plans of her peers than to find her way back to the podium.

The Roxy Pro begins October 7 on worldsurfleague.com.

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