Getty Image / Colin Murty / AFP
Kelly Slater is the undisputed GOAT of competitive surfing. He is an 11-time world champion. Winning his first title in 1992 and winning his most recent 2011, the longevity of Kelly Slater’s career is unmatched. And that career is now coming to an end.
Following his elimination at the Western Australia Margaret River Pro, Kelly Slater stopped short of retiring on the spot but basically announced that his retirement was imminent. This was moments before he was carried up the iconic steps from the beach by his fellow competitors who also sense the gravity of the moment. Kelly’s Instagram Stories are also packed full of tributes to his legendary career.
His comments start around the 2:41 mark:
Kelly say he recently told his girlfriend, Kalani Miller, “This feels like the end.” Slater did say that he’s “had a fight with” the wave at Margaret River in the past and has never finished well there, adding that it’s not the wave he would love to end his career on and that he requested a wild card spot at Fiji.
With that said, it sounds like this is his victory lap. If he gets the wild card spot in Fiji that could likely be the last time he ever surfs on the WSL tour. Though, some think that he might ‘pull a Tom Brady’ and retire only to come back a year later because Kelly Slater is, after all, the most competitive surfer in the history of the sport. Side note, Kelly Slater did date Gisele back in 2005, a few years before Tom and Gisele got married.
It wasn’t just that he was the best competitive surfer because he was gifted. Kelly was driven in a way that the ‘GOATs’ of every sport are. His need to win surpassed anyone else in the lineup and the results came from that with 11 world championships and 56 tour wins, 23 more than anyone else in WSL men’s history.
This is the end of an era for sure. Competitive surfing will not be the same without Kelly Slater but it also sounds like he will remain omnipresent in the sport. Slater said “everything comes to an end, and if you don’t adapt you don’t survive, and my motivation just hasn’t quite been there to really put in that 100% that everyone is doing now.”
"It's not all roses, ya know? But it's been the best time of my life." ~ @kellyslater 👑
🎥 @wsl pic.twitter.com/gCu62BU1lp
— The Inertia (@the_inertia) April 16, 2024
Importantly, in his comment to Kalani where he said “this feels like the end” he also added “but hte start of something else… the start of the rest of life.”
If he doesn’t get that wild card spot in Fiji and if this was the end for Kelly Slater, he’ll be missed by everyone in the world of surfing.