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Nearly 50, Surfing Legend Kelly Slater Discusses Retirement After Big Win

He is turning 50 on Friday.

Ben Pickman

Surfing great Kelly Slater captured his 56th overall tour victory this weekend, winning the Billabong Pro Pipeline off the coast of Oahu.

The victory, coming days before Slater's 50th birthday, prompted questions for the 11-time world champion about his professional future. 

“It would be interesting if that happened in the same week,“ Slater told the Associated Press of possibly retiring. “We’ll see how that goes. I’m contemplating whether I stop now or really go full bore this whole year, which would be, in my eyes, really for the fans and saying goodbye to everybody after all the years of support they’ve given me.”

Slater became surfing's youngest champion at 20 in 1992 and had already become its older winner when he took home a title at 39 in 2011. 

“He is the Michael Jordan of surfing,” former Quiksilver marketing director Danny Kwock told Sports Illustrated for a 1991 profile of Slater.

In his latest win, which opened the 2022 World Surf League campaign, Slater topped Seth Moniz, a 24-year-old from Hawai'i.

Moana Jones Wong also made history at the Pro Pipeline, winning the first-ever full-length Championship Tour event as a wildcard. The 22-year-old, who hails from the North Shore of Oahu, edged five-time world champion Carissa Moore in the final.

The WSL's next event is set to occur in Australia, which has strict COVID-19 vaccination policies, and it is unclear if Slater will be allowed to participate as a result. He has not publicly revealed if he is vaccinated, though he has criticized vaccine mandates in recent weeks. 

The WSL has not mandated vaccines for competitors but has encouraged them to receive the COVID-19 vaccination, warning they may face “significant” challenges if they choose not to.

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Ben Pickman
BEN PICKMAN

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