Aussies Molly Picklum, Jack Robionson Sweep Hurley Pro Sunset Beach
From start to finish, Australia’s Molly Picklum and Jack Robinson dominated the Hurley Pro Sunset Beach, and in pristine six- to eight-foot surf on finals day, the two were unstoppable enroute to the top of the podium. For Picklum, who took out North Shore local hero Bettylou Sakura Johnson in the final, it was her second straight win at Sunset. As a result she takes over the number one ranking in the world.
And for Robinson, who made short work of Japan’s Kanoa Igarashi in a lopsided final, the win establishes him as an early world title contender and gives him a ton of confidence and momentum in an Olympic year. He now sits number two in the world behind Hawaii’s John John Florence, who will be in the yellow leader’s jersey heading into the next tour stop in Portugal.
With the first two Championship Tour events of the 2024 season in the books, some early storylines are already starting to percolate. For starters, it sure looks like the race for the women's world title is going to come down to Picklum and California’s Caity Simmers, who’s now number two in the world. With Carissa Moore and Stephanie Gilmore out of the picture this year, the two winningest women in surfing over the last decade, the future appears to be now.
Conversely, the men's world title race is a bit of a head-scratcher right now. Florence still feels like the smart money, but with a quarterfinal loss at Sunset, he showed he’s vulnerable. Come the WSL Finals this September, Robinson may simply want the title more than Florence. His focus and determination are unrivaled on tour at present.
As far as national factions go, coming out of Hawaii, the Aussies and Hawaiians have to feel really good about what they accomplished. Obviously, having Picklum and Robinson win at Sunset is a big one for the crew Down Under, especially with stops at Bells and Margaret River on the not-too-distant horizon. And for the Hawaiian contingent like Florence, Sakura Johnson, Gabriel Bryan, Barron Mamiya and Seth Moniz, the state of Island surfing is strong right now.
Both the Americans and Brazilians have some work to do at the upcoming events in Portugal and Australia. The U.S. has Simmers and defending world champ Caroline Marks in the top five at the moment, but the men will have to get it together in Europe. The Brazilian Storm appears to have subsided at the moment as there are no South American surfers in either the men’s or women’s top five at present. There are only more three stops until the mid-season cut, and that's going to come up quickly. Here we go!
Watch: North Shore Local Goes Near Perfect On First-Ever Sunset Barrel
With more than 25 years of writing about surfing, the ocean and action sports, Jake Howard continues to share stories, profiles and issues that shape the surfing world. One of the premier subject-matter experts in the field today, he's savvy in the ways of print, digital and social media, his breadth of work is expansive. Getting his start writing Surfline surf reports and recording the phone reports for 976-SURF in the late '90s, Jake served as the managing editor for Surfer Magazine in the early 2000s before moving on to launch RedBullSurfing.com and cover surfing for ESPN and the X Games. Over the years, Jake has also enjoyed time behind the edit desk at The Surfer's Journal, as well as the World Surf League, where he worked as the Senior Editor for a number of years. Beyond producing editorial content, Jake has served as a digital marketer and copywriter for iconic surf brands such as Quiksilver, Roxy and Rip Curl. Writing thousands of pages of copy for Surfline, he has deep SEO experience as well. The surf columnist for the San Clemente Times, Jake continues to dedicate himself to the culture and history of the sport through his involvement with the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center in San Clemente.