Surfing: eliminated from the pro tour, Kelly Slater close to saying goodbye

Eliminated from the elite circuit on Tuesday, American surfer Kelly Slater, 52, spoke of the imminent end of his legendary career, after three decades at the top marked by eleven world championship titles.

“Everything has an end,” said Slater after his elimination against world No.1, his compatriot Griffin Colapinto, in Margaret River, south of Perth (Western Australia).

Often compared to Pelé in football or Jordan in basketball, the Floridian continued to face the best in the world, some half his age, until his body gave up for good at 52 years old.

Evoking his feelings after several failed competitions since the start of the season, visibly moved, he returned to the subject again on Tuesday: “It feels like the end (...). If you don't adapt, you can't survive. I wasn't totally motivated to be 100% like everyone is doing now.

He had already referred to his retirement several times, but without ever officially announcing it. Having been struggling with his hip for almost two years, he lost in the first round of the final stages of the four competitions in which he took part this year.

His results (32nd out of 34 in the general classification) were far too fair to allow him to survive the merciless mid-season "cut" of the Championship Tour (CT), which eliminates the bottom 12 of the general classification for the rest of the year.

“It's been an incredible life, full of memories,” said Slater, who however announced that he had requested a “wild card” for a world circuit competition which will take place next summer in Fiji.

“It represented so many emotions, for so long. It wasn’t all rosy, but it was the best time of my life,” continued Slater, who was carried by two relatives, as a sign of tribute, as he came out of the water after his elimination and cheered by the audience present.

Jostled by the young competition within the American team, the Floridian will not have succeeded in qualifying for the 2024 Olympics, which he had set up as the last major challenge to complete his extraordinary career.

Also read “Everything Comes to an End”: Surfing Legend Kelly Slater Gets Closer to Retirement

But even without an Olympic title, the “King’s” record is dizzying. He is eleven times world champion, both the youngest - at 20 years old in 1992 - and the oldest in history - at 39 years old in 2011 -, and holder of 56 competition victories.

“No one comes close and no one will dominate for that long in the future. He’s the greatest,” Tom Carroll, double world champion (1983, 1984), a privileged witness to Slater’s rise to the top, told AFP.

Its longevity is explained in particular by its disconcerting ease on the water. “He has natural attributes: his body is very flexible and he is extremely creative. He brought a spontaneity and sophistication never seen before,” describes Carroll. “Kelly is talent in its purest form,” summarizes Frenchman Jérémy Florès, a long-time opponent of the American on the CT and now coach of the French team.

Known for his rigorous lifestyle and his obsession with nutrition, Slater also demonstrated throughout his career a fierce competitive spirit, illustrated in the 2000s by his breathtaking duels with the Hawaiian Andy Irons, who died in 2010.

“Technically, he was above because he managed to turn average waves into big scores. But strategically, it was just incredible. During a series, he could destabilize you by saying just three words,” says Florès.

On tubing spots, like Teahupoo (Tahiti) and Pipeline (Hawaii), he could still compete with the younger generation, capable of chaining jumps above the water in small and medium conditions.

But after announcing at the beginning of March that he was expecting a child with his partner Kalani Miller, the American seemed ready to put away his boards and pack his bags to take care of it full time.