Photo by Aaron Hughes//World Surf League
“Is Kelly retiring” chatter has been alive long enough now that it can start thinking about the college application process. The question was thrown at Slater when he was closing in on 40 but the 11-time champion was still a dominant force on the World Tour. The idea only existed because (maybe) it was age-appropriate for an athlete in his late 30s to hang them up.
To be fair, the combination of Kelly’s retirement being top of mind and Slater himself fanning the flames with the occasional cryptic comment — or just the fact that he’s been honest and proposed multiple possible exit plans through the years — has given every heat a sense that we might be watching his last. In 2016, he said 2017 would be “one more run at the world title.” That approach likely changed (understandably) after he folded his foot in half at J-Bay later that year. He floated the idea of riding off into the sunset after surfing in the Olympics (if he qualified for Team USA).
Then there are the countless comments that allude to retirement, or at least can seem to be alluding to retirement if you’re listening from the perspective that the decision could come at any time. When asked about the health of his hip after a heat at the Hurley Pro Sunset Beach this year, for example, Slater responded with “I am questioning competing, to be honest with you.” Now, if Griffin Colapinto had made the same comment nobody would have thought he was alluding to retirement. But for an athlete in his 50s, a statement like that has a whole other layer of possible relevance.
“I do have a plan,” he said honestly in response to whether that was a reference to retirement.
We don’t know what that plan is but speculation is on high alert again after another post-heat interview. Following the Opening Round of the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach, Slater dipped into the “this might be it” pool with something more direct.
“I haven’t made an announcement, but I’m going to wrap this thing [his career] up pretty soon,” he said after surfing against John John Florence and Seth Moniz. “So I’m just trying to enjoy each one that I’m at now.” Then he added, “It’s probably my last Bells – not 100 percent. I mean, if I win this one or Margarets, I earn my way back on tour next year,” he explained. “But other than that, I’m fine if it’s my last one, 30 years since I won my first, it would be a nice bookend.”
