How many second-lasts in crummy waves can he
stomach before Slater slings it for good?
It was the substitute commentator Dave Stanfield who
prophesied the dramatic exit of the 43-year-old Kelly
Slater. As Slater and his first-year-on-tour competitor, Matt
Banting, 20, organised themselves among a lineup of three-foot
closeouts, Stanfield said:
“Here is Kelly Slater. Yes. You are watching history. Every time
he goes into the water you’re fortunate to be able to see this
incredible athlete go to town, twenty-five years as a
pro… ”
Slater’s former travel buddy Ross Williams commenting on the
almost-quarter age gap ‘tween the two added, “It could be Matt
Banting’s pops right there!”
It all sounded more eulogy than stage entrance.
Not that it was immediately apparent. Four minutes into the
thirty-minute heat and still looking like the most perfectly
well-oiled machine the sport has ever seen, Kelly raced hard on a
righthander, threw his back foot on the tail, extended the front,
and didn’t just rotate… but… corked… a
full-rotation, and then some, air. It didn’t land and subsequently
Kelly scored a 1.23.
“Things are getting hot!” said Stanfield.
“Kelly is… definitely… inspired by John John
and Filipe,” said Williams.
And that was it. The heat degenerated into yet another crummy
find-a-corner-scrunch-into-a-tube-add-two-lip-taps-for-a-five.
Hasn’t that been the story of Slater’ swansong season? These
dreadful heats with a jelly-fish structure, no articulation or
power?
And it will be Kelly’s swansong season because he will barely
make the top 10. Even an animal of competition like Kelly
isn’t going to suffer the indignity of an inexorable backward
slide. Could he reconquer the world given the right conditions?
There’ve been more ambitious plans. Imagine a tour that was 80 per
cent reefs, run in eight-foot waves. It would be a blizzard, again,
of Slater wins.
What does it say about a sport that sends its greatest ever, its
one statesman, the man whom carries its success on his shoulders,
into dark mildewed holes like some grunt in a poorly chosen
war?
Matt Banting, meanwhile, is a bland man no one could hate. He is
adept at accelerating and slowing down, rotating his shoulders and
hips and adjusting his stance to complete nearly every manoeuvre
currently in play. No effort is squandered on the application of
style or idiosyncrasy. No sense of gesture or individuality.
Two turns, maybe a little tube and that’s all it takes to beat
Slater in crummy closeouts.
That’s all…
For Kelly there was no hands-free, below-the-rim backside tube
tens like last year. No writers searching for weapons-grade
adjectives to describe another extraordinary leap forward in
performance.
Just hot dogs served without mustard and a champ who took a boot
in the face for his sport.
Oi Rio Men’s Pro Round 3 Results:Heat
1: John John Florence (HAW) 18.77 def. Adam Melling (AUS)
12.67Heat 2: Filipe Toledo (BRA) 15.60 def.
Wiggolly Dantas (BRA) 11.34Heat 3: Matt Banting
(AUS) 10.80 def. Kelly Slater (USA) 6.70
Heat 4: Italo Ferreira (BRA) 15.50 def. Nat
Young (USA) 11.00
Heat 5: Jadson Andre (BRA) 14.50 def. Sebastian
Zietz (HAW) 9.90
Heat 6: Ricardo Christie (NZL) 16.57 def.
Adriano de Souza (BRA) 13.90
Heat 7: Mick Fanning (AUS) 11.46 def. Dusty
Payne (HAW) 10.80
Heat 8: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 12.73 def. Jeremy
Flores (FRA) 10.77
Heat 9: Josh Kerr (AUS) 12.34 def. Kai Otton
(AUS) 7.86
Heat 10: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 15.60 def. Taj
Burrow (AUS) 11.94
Heat 11: Owen Wright (AUS) 13.50 def. Adrian
Buchan (AUS) 8.06
Heat 12: Keanu Asing (HAW) 14.17 def. Gabriel
Medina (BRA) 13.60
Oi Rio Men’s Pro Round 4 Results:
Heat 1: Filipe Toledo (BRA) 17.83, Matt Banting
(AUS) 13.57, John John Florence (HAW) 7.74
Heat 2: Jadson Andre (BRA) 12.93, Italo
Ferreira (BRA) 11.93, Ricardo Christie (NZL) 10.10
Heat 3: Josh Kerr (AUS) 13.03, Bede Durbidge
(AUS) 9.33, Mick Fanning (AUS) 8.76
Heat 4: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 12.74, Owen Wright
(AUS) 12.23, Keanu Asing (HAW) 10.37
Oi Rio Men’s Pro Round 5 Results:
Heat 1: Ricardo Christie (NZL) 13.50 def. Matt
Banting (AUS) 13.27
Heat 2: Italo Ferreira (BRA) 15.73 def. John
John Florence (HAW) 4.87
Heat 3: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 13.67 def. Keanu
Asing (HAW) 5.20
Heat 4: Owen Wright (AUS) 14.40 def. Mick
Fanning (AUS) 9.60
Oi Rio Men’s Pro Quarterfinal Match-Ups:
QF 1: Filipe Toledo (BRA) vs. Ricardo Christie
(NZL)
QF 2: Jadson Andre (BRA) vs. Italo Ferreira
(BRA)
QF 3: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Bede Durbidge
(AUS)
QF 4: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) vs. Owen Wright
(AUS)
|
|
|