Molly Picklum

Molly Picklum
Personal information
Born (2002-11-26) 26 November 2002
Gosford, New South Wales, Australia
Height5 ft 5 in (165 cm)
Weight136 lb (62 kg)
Surfing career
SportSurfing
Best year1st: 2025 – WSL World Champion
SponsorsRed Bull Surfing, Rip Curl, Visa
Major achievements
Surfing specifications
StanceRegular
Medal record
Women's surfing
Representing  Australia
World Games
Bronze medal – third place2024 AreciboTeam

Molly Picklum (born 26 November 2002) is an Australian professional surfer. She competes in the elite (top 16) of the World Surf League. In September 2025, she became the World Champion in the 2025 WSL Women's Championship Tour.

Early years

Picklum was born in Gosford, New South Wales, and grew up on the Central Coast region of New South Wales, with her parents splitting when she was an infant.[1][2][3] Her first club was the North Entrance Surf Club, where she competed and trained in surf lifesaving.[4][3] Picklum has credited the "good community" of her local club with inspiring her to pursue her competitive surfing career.[4] While neither parent surfed, Picklum's mother began dating a surfing instructor, and the sport proving challenging enough to keep her interested.[3] She was involved in multiple sports, including soccer and Oztag, while also representing New South Wales Under 12s in touch football.[3]

At the age of 13, Picklum joined Glenn 'Micro' Hall's squad, the same squad that trained the then-women's World Surf League champion, Tyler Wright.[3] A year later, she began being sponsored by Rip Curl after winning the Australian Women's Junior title and was signed to Surfing Australia's High Performance team.[3] Picklum would not relocate to the Gold Coast, where most of Australia's surfing support base was located, instead choosing to remain on the Central Coast, to stay close to her family and community.[3]

Professional surfing career

2019–2022: Junior circuit and WSL debut

In 2021, Picklum was awarded a Sports Australia Hall of Fame scholarship due to her success on the domestic junior circuit, and emerging results on the World Surf League Qualifying Series.[5]

2023–2024: Emergence on the world tour

In her second year in WCT tour (2023) she won the event in Sunset Beach (Hawaii) and in 2024 successfully defended her title. She represented Australia in the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Also in 2024, she became the first woman to score a perfect 10 while surfing the Banzai Pipeline.[6][7]

2025: First world title

Picklum's pre-season was full of changes, including an amicable split with her longtime coach, Hall, after the conclusion of the 2024 season.[3] She made the decision not to hire a new full-time coach, instead employing local coaches at each stop of the tour.[3] She also began seeing a mind coach in the off-season to help her with the need to "accept things," citing that her hunger and determination to win was making it difficult to "admit" when decisions did not go in her favour.[8][3] In addition, she was undergoing rehabilitation for a broken foot.[9]

Picklum credited the competition at Lowers Trestles as being the turning point in her season, with Picklum later recalling running past a camera yelling "let's go," along with her semi-final victory over defending world champion Simmers, as the key moments she realised that she could win the world title.[9] The next competition after her final at Trestles, Picklum continued to sustain the momentum, winning at the Rio Pro in Brazil, which moved her up to world number one.[10] She would go onto reach the final at Jeffreys Bay, South Africa, finishing runner-up to Gabriela Bryan by 0.26-points, with Picklum splashing the water in frustration after missing potential waves under priority that could have given her an opportunity to win the event.[11][10]

The next event would take place in Teahupo'o, Tahiti.[10] Picklum's quarter-final against Vahiné Fierro saw Picklum, behind for the final moments of the heat, catching a wave with seconds to go with her wave being enough for her to advance to the semi-finals, calling it a "one last do-or-die moment," and would go on to her second event win of the year.[9] When reflecting on her quarter-final victory in particular Picklum described the situation and journey to victory as, “the moments that create you, and define you as a competitor.”[9] Picklum would enter the WSL finals ranked as the number one seed, having accumulated the most points on tour throughout the year, with her consistency proving pivotal to her season, advancing to the quarterfinals in every event apart from one.[12][13]

Picklum would face 2023 world champion and number four seed, Caroline Marks, in a best of 3 series of heats at Cloudbreak, Fiji.[14] Marks would win the first heat with a 2-point win, while the swell at Cloudbreak began to increase in size, it turned the conditions to Picklum's favour.[12][13] Picklum would win heat two, which included a 8.33-point wave, with an overall total of 15.83, finishing with a 7.80-point win over Marks and forcing the world title battle into a deciding heat.[12][13] In the third and final heat, Picklum began with a 7.00-point wave, with her next wave scoring an 8.83 which included a barrel, earning her overall total heat score of 16.93 and winning over Marks by 10.69 points, thus becoming the world champion.[14][12][13] Picklum would be the last women's world champion crowned in the WSL finals format, with the WSL reverting to the cumulative total points system last used in 2019, something that Picklum was looking forward to, admitting her challenges with the WSL finals but was still "really proud that I won in the (WSL finals) format."[15] Picklum's world title was also the first for an Australian surfer since Stephanie Gilmore's world title in 2022.[12]

After winning the world title, Picklum returned to a guard of honour at Sydney Airport when returning from Fiji, and a victory party in her home-town in the Central Coast, calling the experience "surreal" and was "still fathoming it all.”[9][14][4] Picklum was also nominated for a Laureus Award for Action Sportsperson of the Year, for her performance during the 2025 season.[16]

2026: World-title defence

Prior to the contest starting, with increased media duties and more public exposure after winning her world title, Picklum was feeling "a little bit tired," although also stated that "my boards are feeling really good."[8] Picklum began her first world title defence with a second-place finish at Bells Beach to Gabriela Bryan.[9] Defeating Lakey Peterson in the quarterfinal by 5.70 points, Picklum's semi-final would feature an all-Australian showdown with Isabella Nichols, with Picklum advancing to the final.[17]

Surfing results

Victories

WSL Finals Wins
Year Event Venue Country
2025Lexus WSL Finals FijiCloudbreak, Tavarua Fiji
WCT Wins
YearEventVenueCountry
2025Lexus Tahiti ProTeahupo'o, Tahiti French Polynesia
2025VIVO Rio ProSaquarema, Rio de Janeiro Brazil
2024Hurley Pro Sunset BeachSunset Beach, Oahu Hawaii
2023Hurley Pro Sunset BeachSunset Beach, Oahu Hawaii
WSL Challenger Series Wins
Year Event Venue Country
2022 Ballito Pro[18] Ballito, KwaZulu-Natal South Africa
WQS Wins
YearEventVenueCountry
2021Oakberry Tweed Coast ProKingscliff, New South Wales Australia
2021Sisstrevolution Central Coast ProAvoca Beach, New South Wales Australia
2021Great Lakes ProBoomerang Beach, New South Wales Australia
Juniors Wins
Year Event Venue Country
2022Central Coast Pro JuniorAvoca Beach, New South Wales Australia
2019Skullcandy Pro JuniorLennox Head, New South Wales Australia
2019Hydralyte Sports Shoalhaven Pro JuniorShoalhaven, New South Wales Australia
2019Gold Coast Pro JuniorBurleigh Heads, Queensland Australia
2019Lake Mac City Pro JuniorRedhead Beach, New South Wales Australia
2019Hydralyte Sports QLD Pro JuniorRedland City, Queensland Australia

References

  1. ↑ "Molly Picklum Surfer Bio". World Surf League. February 22, 2024.
  2. ↑ https://www.redbull.com/us-en/athlete/molly-picklum
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Elliott, Tim (2025-12-04). "'I don't want to die': How Molly Picklum survived the worst wipeout of her life". The Age. Retrieved 2026-05-08.
  4. 1 2 3 "Molly returns to where it all began". Central Coast News. 2025-10-29. Retrieved 2026-05-08.
  5. ↑ "Molly Picklum | Sport Australia Hall of Fame". Retrieved 2026-05-08.
  6. ↑ Carayol, Tumaini (February 19, 2024). "'Pipeline's for the girls': surfers break barriers on Hawaii's toughest wave" – via The Guardian.
  7. ↑ Zuvela, Teneal (February 13, 2024). "Australian Surfer Molly Picklum Becomes First Woman To Score A Perfect 10 At Pipeline".
  8. 1 2 Vinall, Marnie (2026-03-31). "The list that helps Aussie surfing star handle the noise in her head". ABC News. Retrieved 2026-05-08.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Woodlands, Kelly (2026-04-16). "Molly Picklum opens up on 'special' surfing world title... and why she has 'unfinished business' this week". Fox Sports. Retrieved 2026-05-08.
  10. 1 2 3 Patterson, Emily (2025-09-02). "'Such a trip!': Aussie's priceless reaction to winning world title". Nine. Retrieved 2026-05-08.
  11. ↑ "Molly Picklum misses chance in J-Bay as Connor O'Leary claims first WSL win". The Guardian. 2025-07-19. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2026-05-08.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 "Molly Picklum joins Australian greats as world surf champion". ESPN.com. 2025-09-02. Retrieved 2026-05-08.
  13. 1 2 3 4 "Molly Picklum wins first world surfing title with dominant display at WSL Finals". The Guardian. 2025-09-02. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2026-05-08.
  14. 1 2 3 "Surfing's newest world champion receives a hero's welcome in Sydney". ABC News. 2025-09-04. Retrieved 2026-05-08.
  15. ↑ "Picklum's quest for multiple surfing titles 'a trip' in modern era". ABC News. 2025-09-11. Retrieved 2026-05-08.
  16. ↑ "Alcaraz and Sinner to duel for sport's biggest prize as Nominees announced for Laureus World Sports Awards; McIlroy, McLaughlin-Levrone and Ledecky among stars to make shortlists | Laureus". www.laureus.com. Retrieved 2026-05-08.
  17. ↑ "Picklum and Nichols set for all-Australian semi at Bells Beach". ABC News. 2026-04-10. Retrieved 2026-05-08.
  18. ↑ "Rio Waida and Molly Picklum Win Ballito Pro presented by O'Neill". worldsurfleague.com. 10 July 2022. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
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