Kelly Slater is a magician. In the second heat of round five, Slater pulled down two perfect 10s in a row. Keanu Asing, no slouch at Teahupoo by any means, must’ve been flabbergasted. He started off strong with an 8.33 early in the heat. Things were looking up for him… until Kelly dropped the hammer, just like he’s done so many times in the past.
With three minutes to go in the heat, Asing needed to get two perfect 10s to win the heat–which is technically possible, but sure not likely. “The first one was a more difficult ride,” said Kelly in his post-heat interview. “The second was a just a big, classic tube… I’ve been feeling good all week.”
This is Kelly’s third perfect heat in his career, and the ninth in all of professional surfing. Shane Beschen, of course, scored a perfect heat way back when it was a three wave scale, scoring three perfect 10s at the 1996 Billabong Pro at Kirra.
Watch Kelly’s perfect heat on the WSL’s heat analyzer.
