Ewing flying the flag for Aussies
TEENAGE Australian rookie Molly Picklum put her name up in lights, albeit briefly, with a stunning upset win over five-time world champion Carissa Moore at Sunset Beach before the Aussie campaign came crashing down.
Jack Robinson and Gold Coast’s Ethan Ewing will fly the flag in the men’s semi-finals on Saturday but it was an otherwise unsuccessful day for the Aussie brigade at the Hurley Pro in Hawaii.
Steph Gilmore, Sally Fitzgibbons and Tyler Wright all crashed out in the round of 16 while 19-year-old Picklum, from Gosford, and fellow rookie India Robinson made it all the way to the quarter-finals before being eliminated.
Picklum notched up one of the biggest wins of her fledgling career by edging out Moore in their round-of-16 battle while Victorian Robinson stunned her compatriot Fitzgibbons at the same stage.
Seven-time world champion Gilmore was surfing for the first time since coming out of Covid isolation, which forced her to miss the historic last event at Pipeline.