Surfing great Kelly Slater, 51, handed career and Olympic lifeline

PERTH – The 11-time world champion Kelly Slater has been handed a career lifeline with a wild card to continue on the World Surf League (WSL), keeping his Paris Olympic dream alive.

The 51-year-old American, widely regarded as the greatest professional surfer of all time, was eliminated in the round of 32 at the Margaret River Pro in Australia last weekend.

After his elimination, Slater said he was not sure of his future.

“It is what it is. Let’s see how things turn out,” he said.

Often compared to basketball’s Michael Jordan in how he has transcended his sport, it meant that Slater missed the mid-season cut, a concept introduced in 2022 to slim down the field.

Unless he was offered a wild card – one for men and one for women – Slater would have been forced to either surf the second-tier challenger series or retire after a career of more than three decades.

But Jessi Miley-Dyer, the WSL’s chief of sport, said that under its rules, Slater and France’s Johanne Defay had done well enough in previous competition to earn wildcards.

“We look forward to seeing them complete the season,” she said in a statement on Thursday.

The wild card allows Slater and Defay, 29, entry to the remaining Championship Tour events in 2023, meaning that they can still finish in the top five to make the finals series and have a crack at the world title.

It also keeps Slater’s hopes of making the Paris Olympics in 2024 on track. The top 10 men and eight women from the WSL’s 2023 rankings will qualify.

Some surfing media criticised the wild-card decision, saying it was motivated by commercial considerations and made a mockery of the WSL’s ranking system.

But the WSL said the decision was in accordance with its rules.

“The WSL rule book allows for only former world champions and previous WSL Final 5 competitors to be eligible to earn points in the second half of the season as the season wild cards,” Miley-Dyer said.

Surfing made its debut at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, with Slater a reserve for the American team.

Known for his prowess and style, he arrived on the scene in 1990, capturing his first world title two years later aged 20 and his last in 2011. He is both the youngest and oldest world champion and has a record 56 World Surf League career victories. AFP, REUTERS