Kelly Slater, a 54-year-old American surfer, advanced to the third round of the Tahiti Pro on Monday. He overcame Brazil’s Gabriel Medina and some heavy wipeouts at the 2024 Paris Olympics venue of Teahupo’o.
Competitive Edge
Slater, who recently underwent hip surgery, showed he had lost none of his competitive edge against three-times world champion Medina. In dangerous, challenging waves, Slater got smashed on his first attempt and was hit even harder on his second wave, breaking his board in two.
But the Floridian recovered and threaded a long, deep tube that scored a 9.73 out of 10 to take the lead. He then backed it up with another excellent score to advance over Medina, who beat Slater in an epic final at the same venue in 2014.
Slater finished with an excellent two-wave total of 19.06 out of 20 to set up a third-round meeting with reigning champion Jack Robinson of Australia.
Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
