Australian rising star Molly “Pickles” Picklum is joint-No.1 in the surfing world rankings after claiming her first Championship Tour win at the Sunset Pro in Hawaii.
Compatriot Jack Robinson’s semi-final showing means he stays atop the men’s rankings as well, which means Australians lead the world in both competitions.
Molly Picklum celebrates her first Championship Tour victory at Sunset Beach.Credit:Tony Heff/World Surf League
Picklum’s first victory, just a few months after her 20th birthday, was secured in a nail-biting final win over American Caroline Marks on Monday. Picklum played her opponent off her break while manoeuvring her priority for six-foot Sunset barrels.
The victory continues a wild few months for Picklum. Her first season on the tour ended last April when she fell victim to the controversial mid-year cut and competed in the Challenger Series.
Since regaining her spot on the 2023 tour late last year, Picklum became the first non-Hawaiian woman to win the Pipeline Masters. She beat champions Carissa Moore and Tyler Wright en route to the Sunset Pro final.
Molly Picklum making the most of clean Sunset conditions.Credit:Brent Bielmann/World Surf League
Picklum will head into the third Championship Tour event in Portugal next month sharing pole position with five-time world champion and Olympic gold medallist Moore.
“It’s just never losing your confidence and really believing in yourself the whole way, no matter what it looks like,” Picklum said of her turnaround in fortunes.
“Even on the Challenger [Series], the level of surfing in this day and age for the women, you can be on the Challenger and the next day winning a [CT] event.
“I’m proud of myself for just chipping away even though there’s so many setbacks, emotions and mind games in it all. I’m super happy and moments like these make it all worth it.”
Picklum has been touted as Australian surfing’s next big thing in recent years. Seven-time world champion Layne Beachley and retired tennis great Ash Barty are among her confidants.
Jack Robinson stares down a rising Sunset wave face.Credit:Tony Heff/World Surf League
Raised on punchy Central Coast breaks, Picklum is also gaining a reputation for her prowess in Hawaiian waters.
Her Sunset Beach victory follows a North Shore winter practising on the heaviest breaks. Picklum told the Herald last month, “the amount of wipe-outs and beatings that I took just to get comfortable [at Pipeline], it’s just stupid.”
Meanwhile, Robinson’s impressive start to the tour continued. He shored up his lead atop the world men’s rankings with a tense loss to eventual runner-up Griffin Colapinto.
Only a supreme pair of barrel rides by Colapinto denied Robinson passage to the final as they produced the best surfing of the competition in a tense 17.90 to 16.33 battle.
Reigning Brazilian world champion Filipe Toledo pipped Colapinto in the final, lifting him to second in the rankings behind Robinson.
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