KELLY SLATER’s 11th World Title
Congrats Ke11y
Kelly Slater has made history in San Francisco with a record 11th world title. Thousands gathered on San Francisco’s Ocean Beach to see the legend clinch the 2011 crown with a third-round victory at the penultimate event, the Rip Curl Search.
The ASP World Tour Rankings began in 1976, and only a few have been honored with multiple titles – Aussies Layne Beachley accrued seven and up until last year Stephanie Gilmore had won four in the women’s titles. Fallen surfer Andy Irons also won consecutive titles, but no other surfer has dominated the world of surfing like Slater.
I’ve dedicated my whole life to surfing and to competing so to go a whole year and to win a world title and have it all pay off for all that work and effort, it’s a really rewarding feeling.
Slater won three world tour events this year – Gold Coast, the iconic Teahupoo in Tahiti and Trestles in California – and reached four of the past five finals. His career has spanned 20 years, winning a record 48 tour events, more than $3 million in prize money and eleven world titles. His clinched his first title in ’92, and by ’98 he had accrued a total of six. At one point he dropped out of competition surfing for two years, but returned to the tour scene in 2001 before winning his “comeback” crown in 2005.
He adds to his world titles in 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2010, however it marks the first won on US soil. That said Slater’s title winning heat was not necessarily an easy one – he scored 15.13 in the four-foot swell, narrowly beating out Ausssie Dan Ross (14.40). To secure the victory he scored a 7.6 on his last wave in the final two minutes.
I’ve been pretty stressed about it to be honest, I’m just glad it’s over.
At 39, the legend shows no signs of slowing down.
People always talk about my age. I’m 39 going on 40 in a few months and, to me, that’s literally just a number. If you can prove people wrong and stay healthy… to me, I don’t see why at 50 I can’t be in better shape than right now, and I think I’m going to be.
According to those close to Slater, we could be seeing less of him at the tours next year – except for Quik events and Pipe.
Now I can go to Hawaii and really relax and not worry about my result at Pipeline. I’m going to really have to consider if I’m going to do the tour after this.
The Rip Curl Pro Search resumed after breaking to honor Slater.
Check out some of Slater’s surfing highlights here:
via: espn abc surfing magazine
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