Evergreen Kelly Slater on surfing at the age of 51: ‘I’ve kept myself in good shape’

A fter 11 world titles, 56 event wins and more than 30 years of professional surfing, Kelly Slater remains one of the best in the world – aged 51. How? “With a cane,” the American chuckles. “Beating them off, you know?”

It is a remarkable tale of sporting longevity, from the man widely considered the greatest surfer of all time. Slater won his first world title at 20, in 1992. He’s still winning events all these decades later. Slater likes to joke, but his tone becomes serious as he reflects on his most recent victory and emotion wells inside him.

“It was a really emotional time for me,” he says. “I’ve actually had people around the world over the past year tell me that when they watched me win that contest they cried – when they didn’t even know me. It really felt like something supernatural, something special in my life.”

Slater last won a world title in 2011. He continued winning heats in subsequent years, but began to flirt with retirement as his form dipped and a new generation became the dominant force. A plan to retire at the end of 2019 was postponed, but questions lingered over whether it was time for Slater to hang up his competition rash-vest.

Last January at Pipeline, a heaving wave on Hawaii’s north-shore, Slater dispelled any doubts. Facing off against local wildcard Barron Mamiya in the round of 16, Slater was trailing with less than 10 seconds on the clock. But in a stroke of fortune of the kind that has characterised his career, a hefty wave emerged just in time. Slater pulled into a barrel as the buzzer sounded, ending the heat with a nine-point ride to beat Mamiya.

It was a classic Slater moment. “The Goat [greatest of all time] doing Goat things,” said one commentator on the event broadcast. “Sensei