Here’s Why Kelly Slater Keeps Competing at 51 Years Old - Dashel Pierson Jun 2, 2023

Kelly Slater’s been making the rounds lately with the press.

It’s probably because, at 51 years old, he’s in the twilight era of his pro surfing career. And with the 2024 Paris Olympics coming soon to Teahupo’o, Tahiti (a longtime favorite wave of Slater’s, and an event he's made clear he wants as a cherry on top to his legacy), people are wondering: when’s he gonna finally call it quits?

Well, Slater talked about that, among many other things on “The Ryen Russillo Podcast” from The Ringer. Hit play below at the 41:00-minute mark.

On his 2022 win at Pipeline…

“That was an incredible feeling. I don’t think you could ever feel that without spending your life doing something, totally applying yourself since you were a little kid, then having a moment like that. It was really hard to put into words. I hadn’t won over five years before that. I had a potentially career-ending injury at the time. I basically broke my whole foot backwards. If you could picture putting another joint in the middle of your foot, and bending your foot backwards…that’s what happened to me. I couldn’t compete for a couple years.

“The waves were about as good as they get for that event. And I was six days away from turning 50 years old. It was a lifetime of things built up to that moment.”

On surfing bigger waves…

“My goal was to ride waves that were about a foot or two bigger every year. By the time I was about 18, I started to feel comfortable in most situations. I started to compete at 19 in big waves; that year was particularly huge. The first event of the year was at Haleiwa. It was far too big for it; it was essentially a day when you’d typically surf Waimea. It was legit size. When it’s that big, almost nobody ever surfs Haleiwa. That was my first contest surfing in the Triple Crown as a pro.”

On his drive to keep competing in his 50s…

“It’s just my one chance in life to do it. I’m not doing as well as I have in the past, obviously. The levels have increased quickly, guys are very prepared, the equipment is better…I could go on and on for days about how much more difficult it gets as you age. The most rewarding part of it, personally, is hearing other people my age saying, ‘man, you got me motivated to get up and go do this.’ If it provides that for people, then that’s worth it for me. I’m gonna do this until I’m completely burnt out.

“There’s part of me that wished I just quit after the Pipe win. That’s the ego…

I’m number one in the world. I’m going out on top

. But I love doing this. I love surfing. I still love competing to a certain degree. Not as much as when I was a kid. But who’s to say what can be done? I sometimes feel a little like a fly on the wall, watching this evolution of surfing. I’m carrying lots of injuries – my back hurts me every single day, my foot is a major issue. I’m in a lot of pain, is what I’m getting at.”

On his relationship/rivalry with Andy Irons…

“Andy and I had a funny thing. He used to say he watched all my movies as a kid, he looked up to me. But then he wanted to take me out. He wanted to kick my ass. He was not intimidated by me at all. At one point, we kinda became friends. Around 2008, we really quashed things. He was going through sobriety, and he was struggling to find the importance in competing. He had a newfound love of life. But [competing] didn’t have the same meaning for him. We were such a part of each other’s stories, competitively. He brought the best out of me, and I think I did the same for him.”

On going bald…

“It’s hard to lose your hair publicly. People started making fun of me. It was heavy. It’s a part of your youth. I was going through a real public breakup at the time, and it caused me to lose my hair more. I was so stressed and sad. I would literally see hair falling out and onto my pillow. I was tripping out. I’m actually super happy being bald. I love it.”