{"id":581153,"date":"2026-08-11T07:00:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T07:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/581153\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T07:00:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T07:00:12","slug":"kelly-slater-54-rolls-back-years-with-near-perfect-surf-in-monster-tahiti-swell-surfing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/581153\/","title":{"rendered":"Kelly Slater, 54, rolls back years with near-perfect surf in monster Tahiti swell | Surfing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Even at the grand old age of 54, the evergreen Kelly Slater\u2019s mastery of surfing appears to know no bounds. Having been handed a wildcard for the Tahiti Pro, the American delivered yet another masterclass as he tamed Teahupo\u2019o, one of the world\u2019s heaviest waves, to knock out Gabriel Medina with a near-perfect heat score.<\/p>\n

Slater, who is still regarded as one of the best barrel riders in the world, has won the notoriously treacherous event five times before. And in pumping conditions on Tuesday that produced eight-to-10ft swell, the veteran rolled back the years with an imperious display as two deep barrels scored 9.73 and 9.33 for a heat total of 19.06 to blow his Brazilian opponent out of the water.<\/p>\n

That total fell just short of the perfect 20 heat totals he has twice before produced at Teahupo\u2019o, and the 19.77 he posted in 2014 against John John Florence, who matched him in an unforgettable semi-final.<\/p>\n

Making his latest feat even more remarkable is the fact that Slater has been recovering from hip surgery late last year; the 11-time world champion only got back to surfing on a daily basis recently. And in Medina, himself a three-time world champion and two-time winner of the Tahiti Pro \u2013 including victory over Slater in the 2014 final \u2013 he was faced with a tough opponent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely had to settle in. I knew going against [Medina], he\u2019s just so savvy as a competitor,\u201d Slater said. \u201cI tried to push a bit deeper. I started doing breathing exercises, calming down, and getting the heart rate down.<\/p>\n

Kelly Slater in the water at Teahupo\u2019o. Photograph: Hannah Anderson\/World Surf League<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of me was thinking he\u2019d come back, and part of me was thinking it would be super cool if he did, because it would make the heat such a good story. But I settled back out there and went, \u2018Let\u2019s think about putting him in a combo situation. Let\u2019s maximise what\u2019s out here as opposed to just surfing a smart heat.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone knows Gabe\u2019s been through a lot lately, highs and lows. It\u2019s tough to come all this way and lose to someone who\u2019s not in the title race. I\u2019m on the other side of that now, so I feel all those emotions, the toughness of the travel, being away from family. When you have a loss, it sucks. That was a very emotional heat. I almost started crying afterward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Slater, whose sustainable apparel brand is the main sponsor of the event in Tahiti, took inspiration from those who questioned his invitation as a wildcard.<\/p>\n

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\u201cObviously, you see the comments, a lot of people doubting me or saying they should\u2019ve given the wildcard to a local, and I get why people say that,\u201d Slater said. \u201cWithout pressure, you\u2019ve got no diamonds. It fired me up, and even after all this time, yeah, I have something to prove. I need to go out and show it went to the right guy. I think I can [win this contest].\u201d<\/p>\n

Slater will next face Australia\u2019s Jack Robinson in the third round, after the Olympic silver medallist advanced from a high-scoring heat with Callum Robson, 18.20 to 17.40.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Even at the grand old age of 54, the evergreen Kelly Slater\u2019s mastery of surfing appears to know…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":581154,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-581153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=581153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/581154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=581153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=581153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=581153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}