'Feels like the end': Emotional Slater ready to call time on surfing's ...
‘Feels like the end’: Emotional Slater ready to call time on surfing’s greatest career
After 33 years, 11 world titles, undisputed GOAT surfing status and claims as one of the most dominant athletes in sporting history, Kelly Slater has delivered an emotional competitive sign-off – with the prospect of one last hurrah.
The 52-year-old was chaired up the beach at the Margaret River Pro on Tuesday following a round-of-32 defeat to world No.1 Griffin Colapinto, with Slater embracing his friend and opponent who is less than half his age.
Kelly Slater is chaired off at Margaret River.Credit: WSL
Slater needed to win in WA to avoid falling victim to the WSL’s mid-season cut, which drops the men’s field from 36 to 24, and the women’s from 18 to 12 for the rest of the Championship Tour (with wildcards taking two slots at each event).
Last year, the WSL controversially handed Slater a year-long wildcard to each event when he faced relegation from the tour.
Slater has applied for an individual wildcard at August’s Fiji Pro at Cloudbreak, a wave that ranks as one of his tour favourites, where he has won four times.
But with he and partner Kalani Miller expecting their first child in a few months, Slater has long hinted that the end is nigh for the most successful surfer in history.
Kelly Slater with his partner Kalani Miller on Tuesday.Credit: WSL
“It’s just so much emotion for so long,” Slater said, pausing to compose himself during a post-heat interview with the WSL.
“So much dedication and it’s not all roses. But it’s been the best times of my life. And I know my family’s at home watching, I love you guys.
“I couldn’t quite pull a miracle off this week, I’ve pulled a few off over the years and I still had that hope out there. I was like, ‘one might pop up with a minute to go’.
“I’ve had such incredible luck and good fortune over the years and it’s tied in with my surfing. I’ll have a little quiet time after some time with the crowd and absorb the entire thing.”
Kelly Slater celebrates his 2022 Pipeline Pro victory, a week short of his 50th birthday.Credit: WSL
Slater first qualified for the world tour in 1991. He became the youngest world champion in history a year later when he claimed his first Pipeline Masters and the crown at age 20.
Five straight titles followed from 1994 to 1998 before a professional sabbatical, after which he returned to wage a running battle with the late Andy Irons that defined a pro-surfing generation.
Slater’s last title in 2011, at the age of 39, makes him the oldest world champion as well, with a career that has pitted him against opponents from ’80s greats Tom Curran and Mark Occhilupo to Mick Fanning and Joel Parkinson, the Hawaiians Irons and Sunny Garcia, Brazil’s Gabriel Medina and Filipe Toledo and now surfing’s latest generation.
Slater detailed last month at Bells Beach how big a toll last year’s hip surgery, which involved attaching the labrum of a cadaver to his hip bone, had taken. He needed hours of physio before and after each event just to compete.
A berth at July’s Paris Olympics – held at Teahupo’o in Tahiti – had long been Slater’s preferred farewell, but injuries and form always made that a long shot.
His 2022 Pipeline Pro triumph, his first event win in six years one week short of his 50th birthday, ranks as one of surfing’s most remarkable victories. It was in Hawaii earlier this year that he truly came to terms with calling time on his career.
Loading
“I’m avoiding that emotion because it’s all right there bubbling up,” Slater said.
“But it hit me at [the] Sunset [Beach Pro] this year. I knew without a good result at Pipeline, I didn’t do well at Sunset and I’ve been struggling since my surgery.
“I’m just fighting through the pain on adrenaline. But after Sunset, I was talking to Kalani and I just broke down [saying], ‘this feels like the end’. But it’s the start of something else.”
Sports news, results and expert commentary. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.
Loading
