Kelly Slater returns to Margaret River for Telstra Drug Aware Pro
The official press launch of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Prime Rated Telstra Drug Aware Pro took place on Monday, 4th April, at the Margaret River in Western Australia. Former World Champion from Australia, Mick Fanning, along
with defending Telstra Drug Aware Pro Champions Josh Kerr and Chelsea Hedges were present at the press conference. However, it was the 10-time ASP World Champion from USA, Kelly Slater, who remained the highlight of the occasion.
The media turn out at the press launch was huge, showing Margaret River’s appreciation and excitement over Slater’s return to the event after a hiatus of 18 years.
Undoubtedly, the most accomplished surfing champion in the history of the sport, Slater had last competed at Telstra Drug Aware Pro in 1993. 21 years old at that time, it had not been the most memorable experience of his life. Returning to the event years
later, he hopes to walk away with much better memories. Expecting great surf through the event, he looks forward to enjoy his week.
The reporters attending the press conference on Monday had no intention of allowing Slater to bury the past. Adopting a subtle approach, a reporter questioned Slater on his decision to return to the Margaret River. To this Slater replied that the decision
was based on his girlfriend’s desire to come here and drink wine. The amusing reply caused everyone to break out into laughter.
The reporter decided to fire the question at Slater once again, this time quite explicitly asking him to recall his previous experience of the event. Swiftly responding to this question, the 39-year-old surfer joked, “It was wonderful. I lost my first heat,
I got last place, ripped my wetsuit open, broke my board and got my leash stuck on the reef – then my rental car broke down, it was all bad for me at that event and I haven’t been back to surf in it since.” This reply was more than enough to convince the reporters
that they would not be getting on top of Slater today.
Also present at the press conference, Australia’s Fanning expressed his hope of walking away from the event a winner. He said, “Coming over here is a good opportunity for me to make sure I'm on the right track for this year. It does give me a chance to surf
a few more heats and it's not do or die (like) in the World Title race, so I can throw caution to the wind.”
Both Slater and Fanning are thrilled about the predictions of excellent conditions with mixture of small, medium and very large high quality waves during the finals weekend.
The Telstra Drug Aware Pro Event kicked off on 3rd April and will wrap up on the 10th after a week of both women and men surfing action. Slater’s first appearance in the contest will be during the 12th heat of the first round.
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