Surfing’s 11-time world champion Kelly Slater showed he still has what it takes to compete with the best at the Tahiti Pro on Saturday, scoring the highest heat total of the first day in huge and wild waves.
The 54-year-old, who retired from full-time competition in 2024, clocked up an excellent two-wave total of 16.23 out of 20 to advance to the second round and into a match-up with Brazil’s three-time world champion, Gabriel Medina.
Challenging Conditions
Teahupo’o, which translates roughly as ‘wall of skulls’, hosted the 2024 Paris Olympics surfing event and is considered one of the world’s most perfect waves. Saturday’s conditions were far from perfect though, with big unruly swells and strong cross-shore winds taking the already challenging lineup to the next level.
Local Tahitian Kauli Vaast, who won Olympic gold here in 2024, was another to shine in the challenging conditions before competition was called off, with more big, powerful waves expected in the coming days.
Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
