Molly Picklum: Australian holds nerve to claim world title at Cloudbreak in Fiji
Australia has a new world champion after Molly Picklum held her nerve to claim the title in raging surf at Fiji’s Cloudbreak.
Picklum’s title tilt went down to the wire as she battled out a best-of-three finale with former world champion and Olympic gold medalist American Caroline Marks, before barrelling and belting her way to victory on Tuesday.
Picklum picked off the first wave of the final match and produced two big lip-smacking turns, laying the platform for the remainder of the heat and never looked back.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.The 22-year-old, from the Central Coast of NSW, joins a celebrated group of former Australian champions including Layne Beachley, Stephanie Gilmore and Tyler Wright.
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.
“I cannot believe it, I cannot believe it,” she screamed from the water to the cheering crowd surrounding her on boats. boards and jet skis.
“I didn’t make it easy for myself but I did it and I have so many people to thank.”
Earlier in the day Jack Robinson made a disappointing early exit from the World Surf League Finals, out-gunned by busy Brazilian Italo 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 inconsistent conditions at Cloudbreak counted against the Olympic silver medallist, who never really found his groove.
Popular Brazilian Yago Doa went on to defeat American Griffin Colapinto to claim the men’s world title.
with AAP.
