Molly Picklum turning heads with Steph Gilmore-like surfing style

It’s the ultimate compliment. Being likened to a seven-time world champion. And it’s why this teen surf sensation is “stoked’’.

Molly Picklum is often likened to Stephanie Gilmore, left, Australia’s seven-time world champion.

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She’s only a teen but there’s something about surfer Molly Picklum on a board that turns heads.

It’s not just her bottom turns, carves and cutbacks that stop people in their tracks. It’s her uncanny resemblance to seven-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore in the water.

Both long-legged and lean, Picklum’s style is similar enough she has been repeatedly likened to the world renown surfing champion on course to represent Australia when the sport makes its debut at next year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Molly Picklum, 16, is seen as one of Australia’s most promising surf stars.

“I get that a lot actually,” said the Shelly Beach teenager.

“I don’t look like her in the face but it’s the way I surf. They say I surf like her. It’s a nice compliment.

“I look up to her, the way she carries herself, her sportsmanship, the way she behaves.

“It’s a nice thing to hear. It makes me feel stoked.”

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Under the guidance of surf whisperer Glenn “Micro” Hall, Picklum, 16, is thriving in a winning environment.

She surfs and trains alongside the likes of Owen Wright, former three-time world champion Tyler Wright and multiple world tour runner-up Sally Fitzgibbons.

Picklum is the latest young surfing talent to emerge from the Central Coast with fellow local Macy Callahan now competing on the women’s world tour.

Surfer Molly Picklum, pictured at Shelly Beach, is the number one ranked junior surfer in Australia. Picture: Sue Graham

Molly Picklum after winning the Gold Coast Open Pro Junior event at Burleigh Heads in May. Picture: Ben Stagg

She will represent Australia at the upcoming world junior surfing championships in Taiwan, an event Callahan also contested - and won - in 2017 at Kiama.

The 164cm Picklum earned her spot on the team competing at the world titles in Taiwan in November with the first ever sweep of the junior qualifying series.

Once in Taiwan she has the chance to claim a rare piece of silverware Gilmore doesn’t own - a junior world crown.

“It’s my first junior world titles and I am more excited about this than anything,” she said.

“It’s a thrill to verse other people on a world stage.

“I definitely do get nervous but the more experience I have the better.”

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