Molly Picklum out of Bells but ‘two world titles going on for me this year’
Molly Picklum is out of Bells. She’s about to lose her World No.1 ranking. But the long game is still on as she could be Olympic and world champ by the end of the year.
Here’s the drill at the Rip Curl Pro. You’re up before dark. You whack on a hoodie and some tracks dacks and a beanie. Footwear is optional. You grab a coffee at Torquay and fang your car down Bones Rd and into the dirt car park above Bells Beach. You watch the darkness turn into the miracle and brilliance of pink and orange sky. It’s doubtful you’ve ever seen the world so bright.
And yet on a day like Friday, there’s no surf. What a thing. Like, you go to the Australian Open tennis and you know there’s going to be a court. You go to Sunday arvo footy and you know there’s going to be a field. The unavoidable uncertainty on the dream sporting tour known as the World Surf League is when and if competition will run. Mother Nature is a beauty but she’s also such a bloody flake. Lay days like Friday are a bummer and yet they’re never a shock. As any waxhead will tell you, there’s always tomorrow.
The biggest stunner at Bells this week was the elimination of Australia’s World No.1 Molly Picklum. She was defeated by 18-year-old local wildcard Ellie Harrison in round one in the Bells bowl. Then kicked out of the event altogether by American Sawyer Lindblad when the event shifted down to Winkipop for round three. Picklum is about to lose her premium ranking to France’s Johanne Defay but the 21-year-old is an upbeat soul who still has the world at her feet. When she re-finds them. She could be Olympic and world champion by the end of the year.
“There’s two world titles going on for me this year, for sure,” she says. “It really feels like that. It’s a really big year. I’ve just got to take it step by step. The Olympics comes first. Hopefully you win the Olympics and win the world title and what a year that would be. I think there’s a lot of eyes on me for the Olympics. I guess the Hawaii leg of the tour this year showed I’m OK in big waves and that’s what we could get in Tahiti for the Olympics. I just hope we do get big waves so us females can put on the show we know we can. It all depends on the ocean, hey? We could get there and the waves aren’t what we’ve pictured them to be.”
Which described Friday morning. The waves aren’t what anyone pictured them to be. A pulse is forecast for the weekend. Three Australian men are through to the quarter-finals: Ethan Ewing, Ryan Callinan and Morgan Cibilic. Picklum’s Olympic teammate Tyler Wright is also out, leaving Harrison as the only remaining Australian woman. When a broadcaster finished an interview by saying, “Remember this name, Ellie Harrison, she’s not going anywhere, the young local replied, “Hopefully not!” Competition may resume on Saturday. Pending the co-operation of Mother Nature. The gloriously unreliable flake.
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