Molly Carlson

Early life and education Carlson was born in Fort Frances, Ontario and lived there for the first year of her life. She grew up in Thunder Bay. She has an older sister, Megan. Her mother, Kathleen Trivers, had both her children as a teenager. Trivers separated from Carlson's father, Jason, when Carlson was a toddler.

Carlson did gymnastics as a small child and began diving in 2008 at age nine. She began training with the Thunder Bay Diving Club in 2008. During her final year of high school, Carlson moved from Thunder Bay to Toronto to focus on diving and training to make the 2016 Olympic team.

When she was 17, Carlson moved to Toronto for her senior year of high school. She began attending Florida State University in 2016 After graduation, Carlson relocated to Canada. She is currently enrolled in a Masters of Arts in counselling psychology at Yorkville University.

Career Junior and university (2013–2020) At age 10, Carlson qualified for the 2009 Pan Am Junior Games. Carlson won gold at the 2013 and 2014 International Youth Diving Meets. Carlson competed in the 2021 Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series. She entered as a wild card for Canada. At 23, she was the youngest person to win an event at a Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series. Her boyfriend, British diver Aidan Heslop, broke the record later that day, winning the men's event at age 20. Carlson also placed second at the Paris event and the event at Lake Uri in Sisikon, Switzerland. Carlson ultimately placed second overall in the series.

Carlson trains at the Olympic Pool in Montreal, She won the 2022 AthletesCAN True Sport Award. In 2023, she won the first Canadian Senior High Diving title, scoring 382.30, and the World Aquatics High Diving title, scoring 374.00 points over her four dives. In July 2023, Carlson won the silver medal in high-diving at the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan. She scored 322.80 points, behind gold-medalist Rhiannan Iffland's 357.40.

Carlson chronicles her diving career on social media.

Carlson competed in the 2023 Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series. She placed second at the first four events of the series and won the Mostar event. Carlson won a silver medal in the women's 20-metre at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships.

She placed first at the first stop on the 2024 Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series in Athens, with 323.85 points, just ahead of Rhiannan Iffland's 323.75 points. Carlson placed third at the second stop in the 2024 series in Boston, as well as the third stop in Polignano a Mare, Italy and the fourth stop in Northern Ireland. Carlson placed first at the fifth stop in Montreal, the first time the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series had ever been in Canada. In Montreal, her best dive scored 103.60 points in part due to a perfect ten, the first ten in the women's competition in 2024. Carlson did not compete in the series' final event in Sydney, Australia due to a knee injury, but place second in the series overall for the third year in a row.

Carlson placed first at the first World Aquatics High Diving World Cup event of 2024 in Bahrain. Before the final dive, Carlson was in third place behind Kaylea Arnett and Rhiannan Iffland. She then dove her second-hardest dive of the contest, with a 3.8 degree of difficulty, bringing her score to 328.20 and placing her in the lead.

At the first stop of the 2025 Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series in El Nido, Carlson missed the approach on one of her dives. She placed fifth at the El Nido event. During a practice dive at the Polignano a Mare stop in the series, she slipped off the 22-metre platform, resulting in a foot injury that forced her to pull out of the Pogliano a Mare event.

At the first stop of the 2026 Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series in Bali, Carlson scored 329.70 points and placed second.

Personal life Carlson has struggled with anxiety and body dysmorphia. She has also battled a binge eating disorder. Carlson is an advocate for mental health, telling CNN, “I have the biggest passion for mental health [...] I really want to public speak to athletes on how to prioritize your self-care and ask for help when you need it, because I never want anyone to go through the year of hell that I went through and to feel isolated and alone.”

In an interview with Red Bull, Carlson discussed her approach to overcoming fear. She discussed overcoming anxiety and credited the USA Volleyball player, Victoria Garrick, as a major influence. Carlson explained that watching Garrick overcome her own struggles to become her true self motivated her to do the same for her followers, stating, “She’s my biggest inspiration, for sure. I feel like we’ve gone through similar situations, and I definitely would love to meet her one day.”

She was named to Forbes' "30 Under 30 - Sports" list in 2025.