Rédaction Africa Links 24 with ALM
Published on 2024-03-29 11:17:53
Struggling on the elite circuit, absent from major qualifying events, and hindered by his age, surfing legend Kelly Slater has failed to qualify for the Paris Olympics.
This failure could spell the end for the huge star Kelly Slater. Already in Tokyo in 2021, the first major Olympic surfing event took place without the man who has written some of the most beautiful pages in the sport. However, the 52-year-old Floridian, a legend in his sport, had hoped to make a comeback in 2024 in Polynesia.
“If I manage to qualify for the 2024 Olympics, I will retire there,” he announced in February 2023. In the meantime, injuries have accumulated for the “King”, an 11-time world champion, the youngest – at 20 in 1992 – and the oldest – at 39 in 2011 – in history, and holder of 55 competition victories, a record. Struggling with his hip for several years, Kelly Slater finished 23rd in the 2023 Championship Tour, far from the top ten qualifying spots for the upcoming Olympics. The 9th place finish for the United States at the team World Championships last month in Puerto Rico, which granted a non-nominative quota to the winning nation, where he was absent, definitively extinguished the veteran’s Olympic hopes, surpassed by John John Florence and Griffin Colapinto.
Read the original article(French) on Aujourdhui.ma
