2022 WSL world tour: Kelly Slater wins iconic Pipeline event for 8th time, 30 years after first triumph.
Kelly Slater has won the Billabong Pro Pipeline World Surf League (WSL) title for the eighth time at the iconic Pipeline in Hawaii on Saturday.
Slater, 50 conquered life-threatening waves, the world's best surfers and his own age to win his eighth Pipeline Pro title, 30 years after winning the contest for the first time.
Six days before his 50th birthday, Slater's win over Hawaii's Seth Moniz reignited debate about whether the Floridian might be the greatest athlete of all time, let alone best surfer ever.
Slater has won 11 world titles, becoming surfing's youngest champion at 20 in 1992 and its oldest at 39 in 2011, and now has a record 56 World Championship Tour victories.
Slater's win in the first event of the 2022 World Championship Tour propels him to the top of the rankings, but he hinted he might retire.
The Pipeline was the first event of the 2022 WSL world tour.
"I was going to break my neck, after winning the eighth Pipeline Pro title 2022 at the age of 50, Speech, quotes, talks.
"I thought I was going to break my neck," Slater later told Moniz on the sand. "I thought I'm done but I've just got to try it. I barely got to my feet. I got pretty deep and it blew me out."
"Kelly is in his own universe, he's making history right now," World Surf League commentator and "Momentum Generation" friend Ross Williams said on the event broadcast. "Speechless, chicken skin all over, what a moment for sport, let alone surfing."
"I committed my life to this you know, to all of this. All the heartbreak, and the winning and all this crap," Slater said, fighting back tears after the final. "I've hated lots of it, but I'll just savour this. It's the best win of my life."
"I don't know how many more of these are going to happen. This honestly might be it, I might not show up to (the next contest at) Sunset (Beach)."
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Reuters Media - Reporting by Lincoln Feast in Sydney; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Edmund Klamann
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