Slater pulls out of Europe
Just seconds after walking out of the Lemoore wavepool, Kelly Slater announced he was withdrawing from the European leg of the Championship Tour.
"I'm not planning on going to Europe," Slater told Rosie Hodge after she enquired about his next contest appearance.
Slater had surfed twelve waves over the previous four days at the wavepool finishing third in the event.
The last time Slater surfed a CT contest was at Jeffrey's Bay where he finished 25th. Prior to that, in early May, he surfed the Founders Cup at the wavepool leading Team USA to second place. Later the same month Slater withdrew from Keramas through injury, though on the day that contest began he was riding an XXL swell at Cloudbreak.
While at Jeffrey's Bay, Slater announced he'd be retiring from competition next year, though with a current ranking of 32 and the European leg uncontested he'd have to rely on an injury wildcard.
Two injury wildcards are doled out each year, however Caio Ibelli and John John Florence also have legitimate claims and will be vying for them.
Structural changes to the Championship Tour may provide the solution. With just two contests (out of eleven) securing sponsorship for the 2019 CT, the sponsor wildcard is becoming redundant and three injury wildcards may be issued.
Comments
ARE YOU FARKING KIDDING?
SLATER IS A JOKE
If he gets a wildcard for next year we need to atom bomb his surf ranch.....
Tell Baldy to just go away and play golf......he's embarrasing
Bacon,
Slater's only doing what the poms quasi-voted to do, only quicker, faster and cheaper...
Taking the piss, sad way to go out
For J Bay he said in the commentary booth he only surfed the event as he was in SA doing a sponsorship gig so thought might as go in the comp....fkn joke. That spot should have been given to someone from the trials. WSL are weak as piss pandering to what he wants.
Arguably the greatest and most dominant athlete of our time in any sport. Regardless of your personal opinion of him, if he can provide a contest and is qualified, he can and should do as he pleases in competition as long as he chooses.
The GOAT is really taking the piss now isn’t he
if the wossle had any stones they wouldn't give him an injury wildcard next year. he's done enough in his career to earn the Ke11y Wildcard into any event, but he's making a mockery of the tour at this point with this "injury". the perception that he's only willing to surf events where he's the centre of attention and gets a free ~1.5 points per wave isn't great.
This situation says a lot more about the WSL than Slater.
They're crapping 'emselves that once he's gone their little shit show will be even less relevant to the masses.
Wow. Just fucking wow..
Is this any different to say Roger Federer not playing the French Open to concentrate on Wimbledon or Tiger Woods only playing selected events. In just about every individual sport participants choose the events that best suit themselves , why should surfing be different.
Two reasons off the top of my head.
1) Totally different rankings systems. Golf and tennis have no end of year champ but revolving leaderboards.
2) Every other surfer gets fined for a no show if they're not injured.
There are other reasons but those should be enough.
In Tennis there's no strict cut to the top level like being on the WCT or not. There's ATP ranking points that need to be maintained. Those points way heavily into seedings for events but aren't the only determining factor which is where high seedings for the "greats" who take breaks get controversial. Slater on the other hand will probably deny Ibelli an injury wildcard back on tour next year (JJF will get the other). He's an old man who should have dropped the mic at Teahupo'o in 2016 (the last time he out did the rest of the field).
Here we go . . . . ANDY had a way better STYLE ! He just did . Hardly moved his upper limbs while he pulled off ridiculous moves .
Slater knows it too. Slater even admits to "just winning some titles" by mere heats .
Now with all this WSL shitshow , and Kelly not dealing with OBSOLESCENCE very well . I personally am enjoying watching him squirm .
Its hard to see where he is going with this its not a good look no matter how you swing it for him or the wsl. I know from a personal perspective I have had jobs in the past I have just got sick of and started not giving a fuck, coming up with excuses and blowing days to go surfing the difference being eventually I got the sack.
What his game plan is I have no idea, the wsl obviously need him more than he needs them or think they do anyway, nobody else could pull this off.
I have no love for the wsl and pro surfing so I actually find this kind of funny, stick it to the man haha.
Oh please, as if the world would rather watch Caio Ibelli? I have never heard of her.
Long Live the KING and let him do as he pleases.
Kelly Slater, the Muhammad Ali of surfing. The greatest ever..... to never want to retire.
Take a leaf out of Mick Fannings book, having a ball and still very relevent to the surfing masses.
I could live with Jelly being gifted the odd wildcard to a event here and there - like the pond pro after he has retired or dropped off tour. And lets be clear he has actually dropped of tour by choosing not to compete much this year. But the idea he can pretend to be full time on tour, show up only when he feels like it and just expects to be held to different rules to everyone else - well that just stinks. I'm yet to see a commentator who think he genuinely made the top 8 at the pond pro and know one believes he was injured before the pro, made a miraculous recovery and is now injurred - no one. He hand picking events based on what he thinks he might have a chance at. Even with the jelly judge bias he knows he can't win most events now. He is fast becoming the old weird uncle wanting to dance a bit close to the young nieces at a wedding. And he doesn't know how good he has got it. Send him back to the QS I say.
Good on you Kelly as long as you are there for Pipe who cares, doing those comps would be just going through the motions.
Either give it one good last crack next year or retire or keep going if you like, doesn't really matter there is no right or wrong or bad way to go out Kelly will always be the best surfer to ever live, nothing will every change that.( well unless some other super freak comes along but we will still have to wait a very long time for it to be possible)
11 world tittles, broken pretty much every record, oldest pro surfer ever, still rips, bay watch star, screwed Pammy in her prime and other hotties, built the first decent wave pool, and helped pushed surfboard design to what it is today.
All the haters can hate, but there is no-one that has every achieved what Kelly has a achieved.
GOAT!
I would of put every cent Ive got (not much) on you posting this exact reply!
I love how much you love the goat
Yep I'm with you Indo. He's done everything in surfing and still gets the biggest crowds for his heats. I'd love to see him give it a decent crack and I'm always interested in how he goes. However it does intrigue me how he brings on some of the hatred by his own actions. And Caio isn't going to attract hardly anyone to watch his heats next year so from a purely commercial angle it makes sense. He looked top 8 to me in the pool. What was also intriguing was how poor some of the bottom half of the field looked. There's nowhere to hide bad technique on a perfect wave
Wow Indo sounds like your a bit infatuated with the bald one.......still got his posters on your wall? Anyway his ego is starting to get in his way i think and it would be good to see him in his pet events as a wild card but not the whole tour...he's kidding himself.Retire with respect.
so the chain of command goes:
north-west WA held ransom by > WSL > Slater > Foot bones > Calcium
if we all buy milk, we can stop the NW WA contest
& there is a goat problem in the NW! I think you've nailed it!
Machine Gun Kelly of the Surfing world please stand up and dis this GOAT...
Bringing the sport into disrepute? Just because he is the GOAT and has done all there is to do does not mean he can take the piss this hard.
Surely no one doubts how great he is. What I find amazing, is how he has evolved as the sport has. However, there does come a time. It is obvious he loves the limelight. Sadly, he thinks the best place to find it is within the narrow confines of the WSL. God knows what he is trying to prove.
He does seem like a self serving king. And It was my idea to measure the vibration of a turd a carving knife and a penguin and put the equation into a surfboard. It was good for cutties and floaters but tended to nose dive.
People who are 'great' aren't pricks. They are elevated to greatness in our minds through their great achievements and comportment. When they make mistakes, they learn from it; when they screw up, they own up to it.
KS is being a prick; an entitled, refusing-to-grow-up prick. He's showing that you could never, ever trust him, and that he'll blatantly take advantage of a situation. When you have privilege, you make damn sure not to abuse it.
I quite like Caio. Bit of a joker. One of the few guys who had something interesting to say when he was interviewed. He had JJF's number for a while as well. It'd be a shame not to see him on the tour next year.