Reading Time: 5 minutes
Molly Picklum had quite the turbulent 2022; she was a victim of last year’s reintroduction to the Mid-Year-Cut in her rookie season. After dealing with the self-doubt that comes with the Cut, she turned it around to re-qualify on the Challenger Series. 2023 has been a different story to her pro-tour start on the North Shore in 2022. Hawaii is a challenge for many young surfers, but for Picklum, it’s been a bunch of prize money and titles. Winning both the Pipe Masters and Sunset Pro in this winter alone is nothing short of impressive. After Molly’s victory yesterday, the 20-year-old is now number one in the world, tied with five-time world champ Carissa Moore.
We caught up with an 18-year-old Molly Picklum back in 2021 as she was starting her ascent into becoming one of the best surfers in the world. Check it out below.
***
MOLLY PICKLUM IS READY FOR TAKEOFF
Dusk filters into Urbnsurf’s Three Blue Ducks restaurant. At least 100 thirsty, slightly sunburnt patrons of varying ages and surfing prowess – including at least 20 sponsored pros – are toasting a surf session to remember in the Melbourne wave pool.
We’re here for the launch of Rip Curl’s new brand campaign; an excuse for an A-list of women’s surfing to get pitted and party poolside. Retired ChampionshipTour (CT) surfer Dimity Stoyle (DJ Shimmy) flicks her wrist over pop-up decks as two-time World Champion Tyler Wright cruises by in bare feet. At the bar, wedged between tipsy surf retail and advertising professionals, a shock of blonde hair standing five-foot-two shouts her order to the staff. I recognise the youngster from a brief introduction earlier and call out.
“Hey Pickles, are you old enough to drink yet?”
During an interview with Tracks a couple of weeks after our first meeting at Urbnsurf, Pickles tells me there’s just one battle on the home front that she might be close to conceding.
“For surfing, Mum keeps telling me to get rid of the trophies!” she moans. “I’m like, what if I want to keep them? Every other kid’s parent keeps a trophy cabinet for them.She just says, nah that’s an old one, get rid of it.”…Pickles’ mother is one member of a tight but impressive support crew keeping the young talent grounded. She was there when Pickles crawled onto a foamie at the ripe old age of three, then learned to surf when they moved to Shelly Beach on the Central Coast. She ferried Pickles to an encyclopaedia of sports teams and trainings that the youngster took on during her school years – from swimming to rugby league.And she stringently dished out the pocket money Pickles saved for her first fibreglass in grade five.
The peroxide hair flings around as Molly ‘Pickles’ Picklum side-eyes me and recognises a friendly jibe. Her cheeks crack into a toothy grin.
“Yeah, I’m 18 now! But I’m ordering banana smoothies. I’m starving!”
On cue, the bartender presents a tall glass of milky banana puree. Surf depleted Pickles grabs it and whirls back to the dance floor with a gaggle of friends.
Meet Molly Picklum: a teen surfing phenomenon with as much confidence, quirk, and good humour as you would expect from an athlete with 10 years’ experience on the CT under their belt. She’ll swoop into a room or beach in a torrent of dad jokes and laughter, lulling everyone into easy camaraderie. But blink and she will have already floored the crowd and collected the trophy.
Speaking of trophies: Pickles’ cabinet has the depth of someone twice her years. She won back-to-back Australasian Championship Titles in the under 16sand under 18s and claimed the Australian Pro Junior in 2019. She topped the WSL Australasian Junior Rankings in the same year and was named Female Rising Star at the Australian Surfing Awards 2020. Just a few months into 2021, Pickles has added wins at two World Surf League Qualifying Series (QS) events including the GreatLakes Pro at Boomerang Beach and the Sisstrevolution Central Coast Pro.
“That’s where it all started, that’s when the froth began,” laughs Pickles. “Mum would let me go surfing in the mornings before school so long as I had a friend with me. I remember, I would just try to get any friend, just convince anyone in school to come surfing with me. We used to get out, put our school clothes on and catch the bus from the beach. One day I learned I could beat the bus on my bike. So, my friend and I could surf maybe two waves more and have 10 more minutes in the surf, then race to school on our bikes. We were always rushing to get to class on time, coming in with wet hair, everyone else in class would just be rolling their eyes.”
These days, Pickles buddies up with World Champion and fellow Rip Curl sponsored team member, Tyler Wright. The pair have been galivanting around Merewether Beach, appearing in Instagram stories, using boogie boards as skimboards, and noshing on family feeds during the NSW leg of the rejuvenated World Surf League in April.
Both Pickles and Wright have been schooled by surf coaching guru Glenn ‘Micro’ Hall– a former CT surfer and fellow ‘Cennie Coast’ resident who has trained legends like Owen Wright, Matt Wilkinson, and Ace Buchan. Micro has transformed the youngster’s energetic flicks and sprays into a smooth and powerful flow. It’s raw and aggressive surfing, the type you wouldn’t expect from a gangly teenager – and would impress coming from a much larger man.
That night at the Urbnsurf bar, after the banana smoothie exchange, a photographer mutters to me that she’s going to be the next World Champion. I call her coach, Micro, to see whether she’s a chance.
“Molly is one of a kind,” he responds immediately. “She’s almost the perfect blend of fun, crazy, youthful and energetic, but when it’s go time, she can flip the switch to real competitor. I’ve never really seen anything like it in a young surfer. It’s pretty impressive. There are a lot of great female surfers out there. I think Molly stands out with her raw and aggressive style on the wave, throwing herself into big sections and attacking them.”
She has been likened to seven-time World Champion Stephanie Gilmore for her long-limbed (‘lanky’, Pickles calls it) driving style, sending sprays from the top to bottom of waves. It’s riveting to watch because you never know what might come next. Like the time she hit the BSR Surf Resort wave pool in Waco, Texas, two years ago. She stunned the international crowd by pulling a reverse backside 360 air – no grab. She was just 16.
“Glenn has made the biggest different in my career, I think my career pretty much started when he came on board,” Pickles says.
“When I was younger, I used to get so devo if I didn’t win an event. I was always competitive, rather than being a competitor– they’re two different things. I always wanted to win, but being a competitor is the full package – you know how to win, and you also know how to lose and maintain composure.”
I can’t recall meeting many 18-year-olds with the composure to forgo alcohol for fruit smoothies at a party for VIP surf professionals. (And then hit the dance floor with the fervour of an inebriated adult.) But Pickles is clearly different.
