Photo: Youtube
Here’s something random and weird to chew on: when Kelly Slater won his first title in 1992, the World Tour was exclusively a young man’s game. As in, having a career that lasted into the second half of your 20s made you a grizzled veteran. Finding a 30-year-old world tour athlete was unheard of.
But nowadays turning 30 is where a lot of athletes hit their stride physically and mentally.
Jordy Smith is 37. He turned 22 in 2010, his first year on tour, and since then he’s ripped off a remarkably solid career. He’s never taken home a world title but he has been in the mix for one plenty of times. What’s overlooked, in my opinion, is how little time he’s missed since that rookie season — just 10 withdrawals due to injury over 14 seasons (the 2020 Championship Tour was aborted due to the COVID-19 pandemic) and five of those came in 2015. Even when held up to Kelly Slater’s career longevity, Smith is an iron man.
And consistency? There was a moment in 2022 and 2023 where it looked like Jordy Smith might be sliding away from his dominance. They were the first two seasons Smith finished ranked outside the top-10 since he’d sat out half of 2015 due to injuries. But then we saw a resurgence in 2024 where he climbed back to within striking distance of a slot in the WSL Finals. Outside of that he turned in six seasons ranked in the top-five on the CT and two of those he was runner up to the world title.
The man has been a steady contender for the world title through a long and accomplished career, and last season was reason to believe he’s still got enough in the tank to one day pull it off. And at 37 now, what’s to stop the guy from appearing on the CT roster when he hits 40?
With all that in mind, here’s Jordy Smith kicking off the 2025 Championship Tour on the North Shore….alongside two other old fogies you might remember. He’s still got it.
