Surfer Molly Picklum is first woman to score a perfect 10 in prestigious event

Australian surfer Molly Picklum, 21, has made history as the first woman to score a perfect 10-point ride at the World Surf League's Banzai Pipeline competition event in Oahu, Hawaii.

Held on the North Shore of the island, the event capitalises on the area's infamous reef break, which produces waves so large that tunnels form inside them.

This gives surfers the opportunity to practice barrel riding - entering the tunnel, picking the correct line once inside, and hurtling through at speed to exit before the wave crashes behind them. However, only male professionals competed there until 2020. Tyler Wright won the first-ever women's Championship Tour at Pipeline in 2020.

On 10 February 2024, Molly became the first woman to score a perfect 10 while barrel-riding in the Championship Tour semi-final against Hawaii's 18-year-old Bettylou Sakura Johnson.

Molly lost in the finals to California's 18-year-old Caitlin Simmers.

Male professionals have been competing at Banzai Pipeline since 1971, with female surfers relegated to Honolua Bay in Maui until 2020. The World Surf League only began awarding female Championship Tour winners equal prize money to the men in 2019.