Kelly Slater: The legend dominates yet another season of ASP World Tour (Part 1)
The 2011 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour has nearly come to an end and one cannot argue with the fact that the action delivered during the last 10 months was as satisfying as ever. Watching the best of the best fight among themselves
for top honours at some of the most exotic surfing spots in the world reminded us what surfing is all about. The extremely talented athletes held nothing back as they sought to prove their mettle and put their stylish skills on display.
Before the elite ASP Tour starts off with its final event of the season Billabong Pipe Masters in Hawaii next week, let us recall the exquisite performances by America’s Kelly Slater in 2011. The legendary surfer once again dominated the season and accomplished
yet another milestone. Despite a number of surfers making their presence felt during the tour, there was none who shone as brightly as the 39-year-old Floridian.
Slater is without any doubt the biggest name in the sport and he always manages to remind everyone of the reason for the repute that he enjoys. A few weeks back, Slater found himself running out of fingers to count the number of ASP World Titles that he
has after collecting his latest title this season at Rip Curl Pro Search San Francisco. To further add to the glory of his recent accomplishment, he sealed the deal with one event still to go before the season wraps up.
Prior to the beginning of the 2011 ASP World Tour season, it was unclear whether Slater would be returning to the world stage to pursue his 11th title. However, a week before the first event of the elite tour was scheduled to begin; the iconic
American surfer revealed that he would in fact be chasing his next title.
Slater got off to a perfect start at the first stop of the 2011 ASP World Tour in Australia and successfully walked away top honours from Quiksilver Pro at Gold Coast. This was however just an epilogue to the outstanding performances that the Floridian was
going to treat the fans to in the coming months.
The second stop of the season brought Slater to Bells Beach in Victoria, Australia, for Rip Curl Pro. Getting off to a solid start once again, the legendary surfer had no trouble in reaching the Quarter-Finals. However, Brazil’s Adriano de Souza stole the
show in the Quarter-Final battle to eliminate Slater from the competition and forcing him to settle for fifth place.
Things did not go too well for Slater at Billabong Rip Pro in Brazil either as he was forced out of the competition quite early, tasting defeat at the hands of his compatriot Bobby Martinez in Round 3. For some reason, the 10-time ASP World Champion decided
to sit out Billabong Pro in South Africa, which brought him a lot of criticism, especially from the ASP World Tour contestants.
Rather than responding to the criticism in words, Slater chose to let his surfing do the talking for him and resumed his campaign for the World Title at Billabong Pro Tahiti. After he was done with the event, there was hardly anyone talking about how the
surfing icon had missed the stop in South Africa as they were too busy discussing his sensational victory over Australia’s Owen Wright in the Final of the latest event.
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