Molly Picklum and the rollercoaster ride to world No1

Molly Picklum is a chatty, laughing, warm, engaging, free-spirited 20-year-old with a bit of fire in her soul.

Molly Picklum surfs at Winkipop this week ahead of the Bells Beach Rip Curl Pro.

Good golly. Miss Molly Picklum is the world No.1. She’s a chatty, laughing, warm, engaging, free-spirited 20-year-old with a bit of fire in her soul. Immense confidence, grit, fearlessness and self-belief have taken “Pickles” from the devastation of being kicked off the tour last year to wearing the yellow jersey as the current championship leader. The sport is at her feet when she settles in for a chat at the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach.

How’s life as a world No.1?

“Ha! Life as a world No.1 is definitely a bit different. It’s pretty funny, really. There’s a lot more noise around. A lot of people care now but nonetheless it’s super-fun and I’m loving it. It’s an honour. I can see how the ranking could freak you out because it’s definitely a different vibe and there’s more attention on you and you feel like more people are watching you. More people want to talk to you and everyone wants to beat you. But I feel like I’m handling it. Taking it in. Embracing it. This time last year I was struggling just to stay on the tour, and I ended up falling short. I wasn’t even on the tour and I know how much that hurts. It helps now, though. This is better, right? This is where you’d rather be? It’s nothing but a positive to be where I am and I’ll be doing everything I can to stay here as long as possible.”

What’s your love affair with surfing?

“As a kid I could never get engaged in one thing for too long. I can get bored pretty quickly but surfing is so challenging and it’s the only thing that has kept me truly interested and engaged my whole life. I’ve never been bored with it. You’re close to Mother Nature every day and there are so many positives associated with that, mentally. You jump in the ocean in the morning, you feel refreshed, it’s beautiful, you might have been feeling tired and gross but all that gets washed away. It’s just so special to me. You feel so alive and then that little buzz you get from Mother Nature stays with you for the rest of the day. The ice baths everyone’s doing … it’s so similar to that. The ocean’s like the world’s biggest ice bath for all the good it can do you.

Ever surf just for the fun of it? Or is every session a training drill?

“That’s tricky. It’s a hard balance. I feel like every professional surfer struggles with this. You can surf recreationally and for the pure enjoyment of it, or you can put your head down and surf for practice. How do you separate them? When do you separate them? I definitely struggle to have respect for the recreational side. I usually end up surfing with competition and the career side of it in mind. The sport is so day-by-day and you never know what’s happening tomorrow so you have to go with the flow a bit. It might be eight foot and there are heats all day. It might be flat and we can’t surf at all. There are so many uncertainties. We all want to know what’s going to happen to us and what we’re going to get in life but in surfing there’s just no way of knowing. You’re really humbled all the time. You’re really surprised all the time. You’re really challenged all the time. I love it.”

Ash Barty and Steph Gilmore have become mates via the mutual management company. Two decent women to have in your corner?

“Hundred per cent. For sure. It’s such an honour to know them. I feel like as Australians, we have so many great role models in sport. Getting to know Ash and Steph through the career I’m having, I mean, it’s amazing. They’re incredible role models and they’ve done so well and they’re super-successful athletes and they’re great humans. But I actually feel like it’s more about how lucky we are as Australians to have people like that to look up to. It actually makes me feel blessed to be an Australian.”

Daunting to meet Ash?

“Well, to be fair, I live under a rock a little bit! 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?”

No tennis talk, then?

“That’s why it was so interesting. Because enjoying it had nothing to do with being impressed about her sport. I didn’t know too much about it.

The first interaction was a little bit weird because it was like, ‘You two should meet, you’d really get along’. But it was so easy because I could see pretty quickly that she was just another person. Just a really nice human. That’s what was special to me. It had nothing to do with meeting the tennis player, Ash Barty. It was just incredibly cool to meet this really nice person called Ash.”

Different sports but there are similarities between you, right? Successful at a young age? Life changing quickly?

“If we’re chatting it’s about this unique life, I guess, of being a female athlete. Because all female athletes have similarities we can share and connect with. To have someone like Ash to bounce things off – 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. 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.”

Ash was big on being herself. Doing it her way.

“Everyone’s trying so hard to be authentic and unique and really be themselves at the moment. Authenticity is what people are looking for in themselves but at the end of the day, 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 are 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.

Twenty’s still pretty young to be working it all out.

“For sure. But you’ve got people asking who you are now, so you have to be able to say something. And you want to say something you’re proud of.

You’re definitely forced to move quickly and learn quickly and work it out more quickly than you might otherwise have to. But I’m grateful for it. In certain situations as a 20-year-old, I don’t struggle with some things my friends might find difficult.”

You and Steph are in an interesting position. Mates, but you still have to compete against each other?

“It’s such an interesting factor. Obviously with your heroes, you’re kind of star struck, 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’. Steph only just made the cut last year and I only just missed out. I didn’t end up where I wanted to be 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.”

How rough was falling off the tour?

“I was naïve last year. I just wanted to learn and do the rookie thing of, ‘Oh, let’s see where we end up’. I was proud of my efforts and felt like I put up some good heats and I took a lot from feeling like I belonged. But then overnight you’re not on the tour. Just like that, it’s taken away from you. You’ve got to fight your way back and you’re not guaranteed to make it. Being No.1 is probably more of a wow factor now because last year I wasn’t even on the tour for the second half of the year. I didn’t make the cut and I was competing again three days later on the Challengers. That came with pros and cons.”

Such as?

“It was a good distraction because you think, well, game on, there’s no time to sook around. You have to get on with it. But it came with some backlash, too, where I probably hadn’t dealt with the changing of the tide of no longer being on the main tour. I had to accept it and really fight to get back what I’d lost. I’m proud of myself for sticking at it and never losing confidence or belief. I feel like I’m pretty good at saying yes to challenges and that’s probably why I’m most proud of myself. I fought my way back on tour. I’ve made the cut. It’s step-by-step, bit-by-bit, day-by-day from here, and I’m in a whole new position, but I feel like I can handle it.

Why?

“I’ve found ownership of my own way and my own belief. That’s created a lot of confidence and trust in myself. When I won at Sunset, everyone was like, ‘How does it feel to be No.1?’ To be honest with you, it felt like, ‘Well, that’s cool’. But it wasn’t a big deal. It wasn’t a huge moment or a shocking moment because I saw myself doing it before I did it. I got the yellow jersey and I was like, ‘Yep, that’s a feather in your cap, keep going’. I feel like that about the world title.”

You can win it this year?

“Hundred per cent. I really do feel like it’s possible. Why not? I feel like there are going to be more and more challenges at every single event. You don’t know what’s going to come but where I am right now, and how I’m feeling, I definitely feel like I’m a big chance. I’m not going to shy away from that. You have to be fearless. I genuinely see where I can be. I really do believe I can get there. I just really want it. You try to finish the year in the top five and then it all comes down to that last event. I really believe my surfing can get the scores and do all the things a world champion does. There are all the uncontrollables but I know one thing for sure, I’ll be trying my heart out.”