Picklum joins Australian greats as world surf champion
Melissa Woods |
Molly Picklum is Australia’s newest world champion after storming to victory in the the World Surf League Finals in Fiji.
The NSW Central Coast surfer faced 2023 world champion Caroline Marks in the title match, with the American eliminating three rivals earlier on Tuesday en route to the decider at Cloudbreak.
As the No.1-ranked surfer Picklum had the chance to wrap up the world crown with victory in their first heat, as top-seeded Brazilan Yago Dora did in the men’s final against Griffin Colapinto.
Looking to follow in the footsteps of eight-time champion Stephanie Gilmore, who won Australia’s last title in 2022, Picklum was forced to go the long way round, with a first-up loss meaning the trophy was decided in a best-of-three showdown.
“Pickles” found her rhythm in the second heat, the 22-year-old looking far more comfortable as the swell picked up at the infamous reef break.
She made a statement midway through the second heat, turning the final as she charged into a long barrel that earned her a top score of 8.33, which led to a convincing 15.83 to 8.03 victory.
With Marks tiring in her sixth heat of the day, Picklum got off to a strong start in the third heat, laying down an opening score of 7.00.
She backed that up with an even better ride, threading another barrel score 8.83 to set her rival a massive challenge which she was unable to rise to with Picklum winning 16.93 to 6.24.
xx
xx
It was just reward for an ultra-consistent year from Picklum, who won two tour events and only finished lower than fifth once.
Top-seeded Dora got the job done in one heat of the decider against Colapinto, with Brazilian men now winning six of the last seven world titles.
Qualifying for his first Finals campaign, Dora outscored third-ranked Colapinto 15.66 to 12.33 after the Californian earlier eliminated Italo Ferreira and Jordy Smith.
“The signs were all there for me and I felt something special this week since I got here,” the 29-year-old said.
“I knew something was going my way, it didn’t matter whoever I was going to get in the final things were going to happen and I’m going to come out with the win – I’m so happy, it’s unbelievable.”
Earlier, Jack Robinson made a disappointing early exit, out-gunned by busy Brazilian Ferreira.
The West Australian entered the first match of the men’s top-five showdown as the fourth-ranked surfer and favoured to overcome the 2019 world champion.
But the lack of early swell at Cloudbreak counted against the Olympic silver medallist, who never really found his groove.
Ferreira landed some big airs to finish with a heat score of 14.33 while Robinson had some uncharacteristic falls as he battled his way to a two-wave tally of only 5.83.
AAP
