Source :- THE AGE NEWS
Molly Picklum has been having Fijian flashbacks all week.
That’s where I raised a glass to my first world title. That’s the same jet ski as last year. And that’s where I raised a 22nd glass to my first world title.
The darling of Australian surfing is back at Cloudbreak, her very own Fijian field of dreams, scene of her maiden WSL championship triumph 358 days ago.
Picklum is up to her eyeballs in this year’s world title race as well, sitting fourth in the rankings, with precious little separating a top four that also features Hawaiians Gabriela Bryan and Carissa Moore and American Sawyer Lindblad.
But Picklum is also aware, she hasn’t won an event since that stunning afternoon last September – when after a week of being bed-bound with flu, she lost the first heat of her final to Olympic gold medallist Caroline Marks, then rallied in 8-12 foot barrels to claim the title.
“It’s time to get on the front foot,” Picklum says.
“Time to get off my butt and win something.”
The WSL has overhauled the 2026 tour and done away with the “final five” format in favour of surfing’s more traditional season points tally, albeit with a grand final of sorts at Pipeline in Hawaii – one of Picklum’s pet events.
The 23-year-old knows the first-past-the-post format could have her title defence on the rocks already.
“It has been a bit of a slower start to the year, I’m honestly a bit surprised that I’m still hanging in up there in the rankings and not too far away [from No.1],” she says.
“Just because the field’s been quite open all year. No one’s won more than one event. There hasn’t really been a dominant surfer this year, no one’s really caught fire, which is usually what we see happen.
“And without a big finals day, you could run away and secure a title early on. I’ve been pulling the pieces together a little bit. I can feel in my gut that something’s coming and that’s what excites me.”
Picklum’s best result so far this year is her runner’s up at the Bells Beach Pro in April, with a semi-final showing in El Salvador and four quarter-finals holding her in good stead.
Her 2025 world title campaign played out in not-dissimilar fashion too. Late season victories in Rio, and Tahiti, along with a second-place at J-Bay in South Africa saw Picklum arrive in Fiji in irresistible form.
But as she returns to Cloudbreak a year on from her world title, the Central Coast product freely acknowledges she’s spent much of that time adjusting – however subtly – to life as a world champion.
“I didn’t know what to expect. Obviously I’d never won a world title and that’s a part of what you have to deal with around it I think,” Picklum says.
“I would have loved to have had a big result, a win by now. But at the same time, I’ve probably been sitting back a little bit more than I normally would, taking stock of things a bit more.
Adapting to things like the different rhythm of the tour. It’s a different schedule, with different time zones, I’ve been adapting a lot of the year and I’m feeling pretty dialled in now.”
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