Barty and Gilmore there for rising surfing star Molly Picklum
Good golly, Miss Molly Picklum – with eight-times world champion Steph Gilmore and former tennis ace Ash Barty in her corner – is the world No.1 surfer at 20.
Ash Barty? Name rang a bell.
“Well, to be fair, I live under a rock a little bit!” Australia’s shock world No.1 surfer, Molly Picklum, laughs when recalling the day she met the Wimbledon champion.
“I don’t really know who’s who. I don’t always know too much about what’s going on. I was aware, obviously, that she was really good at what she did, but I didn’t know too much about her whole story.
“We have the same manager, so I got to meet her, and when it happened, I just thought it was great to be meeting a really nice person. That was it. You’d never think she was a superstar. She was just a totally normal person and I thought, cool, isn’t it great when you meet someone genuinely nice?”
The Rip Curl Pro is on at the moment. Trophy rings a bell. Well, the event will be on if Huey ever sends any swell. Any chance, old mate? Look at the world rankings and, good golly, Miss Molly is No.1 at 20. Less than a year after she failed to make the mid-season cut. If you don’t know her, here’s an introduction.
Totally engaging. Talks a million miles an hour. Confident. Ambitious. Fearless. Most young athletes shy away from world-title talk. Aw, shucks, it’s still early in my career. Jeez I dunno, I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself. “Pickles” doesn’t care. Can she win it? Heck yes. Because, “why not?” There’s a fire in her soul and a couple of good eggs in her corner – Barty and eight-times world champion Steph Gilmore – thanks to the mutual management of Nikki Mathias.
“I mean, for someone who’s experienced what I could potentially go on to experience, I couldn’t really think of anyone better to speak to if I need it,” Picklum says of Barty.
“It’s such a privilege to be shown and sort of talked through what could happen in terms of the noise around your career and the different feelings it might bring up at different stages. If it does happen, if I do have the success I’m hoping for, it won’t come as such a shock because someone pretty experienced is there to help me when I need it.”
Gilmore? She’s rung the bell. A four-time champion here. She’s such a queen, walking around the carpark between Winkipop and Bells with enough natural grace and aura and world titles to ditch the wetsuit for flowing robes.
She’s always there for Picklum as a mate and yet there’s an intriguing asterisk. Gilmore and Picklum are competing against each other and when the hooter goes off – any chance, Huey? – it’s every mega-talented woman for herself. “It’s such an interesting factor,” Picklum says. “Obviously with your heroes, you’re kind of starstruck, you’re in awe. But at the end of the day, I want to be her, in a sense, and achieve what she’s achieved. It’s kind of like, ‘You do you and I’ll do me – and let’s see where we end up’.
“I didn’t end up where I wanted to be last year, but then Steph did and she went on to become world champion. I was super happy for her. If anyone was going to beat me and take my spot, I’d want it to be Steph. I was proud of her and for her to win an eighth world title – I mean, that’s truly amazing. Honestly, I was stoked for her.”
Picklum needs to stay in the top five to qualify for the championship-deciding World Surf League Finals at California’s Lower Trestles in September. When she competed on International Women’s Day in Portugal last month, she honoured the name that only just rang a bell by stamping BARTY on her singlet. That singlet is now framed and hanging on a wall at Barty’s home.
Barty watches live broadcasts of the tour. She’s become a fan. She was at Bells a couple of years ago to watch her mates Picklum and Gilmore, but she’s unlikely to be here this year. A baby’s on the way. Barty always spoke about the importance of being yourself at all costs, and Picklum sounds just like her. “Everyone’s trying so hard to be authentic and unique and really be themselves at the moment,” Picklum says.
“It’s actually an easier way to live, don’t you think? It’s harder to try to be something you’re not. It’s harder to make up this person you think is going to be impressive or popular or whatever.
“If you can just settle down and not take your environment for granted and be yourself and stay true to yourself, there’s so many positives. It’s so much more simple. So you keep chipping away to understand yourself and who you really are.
“In this position, you do have a lot of people around you trying to tell you who you are. And sometimes you don’t identify with what they’re saying about you. You need to figure out the truth yourself. That’s the journey I’m on.”
More Coverage
Neo-Nazi social media accounts shut down after fundraising boasts
Elon Musk’s X has suspended a raft of accounts associated with neo-Nazis from Australia’s National Socialist Network after the group boasted they had raised $13,000 to replace equipment ‘stolen’ by police.
Lattouf was hired under ABC’s ‘diversity policy’, court told
Emails from an ABC radio boss to a senior manager, explaining Antoinette Lattouf’s hiring, have been read to court as it emerged concerns about her ‘perceived or actual lack of impartiality’ were raised after her first shift.