On Tuesday, preempting Kelly Slater’s round two heat in the Vissla Sydney Surf Pro – the first time he’s competed in the Australian capital since 2004 – I wrote a piece assessing Kelly Slater’s rankings in years past in an effort to hold his recent “I’ve got Olympic qualification on my mind,” comments to task.
Looking at his performances since before suffering a broken foot, I’m convinced the 11-time world champion stands a good chance of qualifying despite falling to the bottom of the CT rankings in recent years. I stand by that assessment.
Not to dwell, but if Slater were to qualify, his performance at Manly Beach on Wednesday may be the best Olympic preview we’ve got for two reasons: 1) The QS mirrors the Olympic talent pool and, 2) Grinding in knee-high surf seems likely in the summer months at Tsurigasaki Beach.
To the first point: 18 of the 40 surfers that will compete in the Olympics will be CT surfers. The rest will qualify by other means and represent a more diverse group of countries. In the way that the QS allows for CTers to swoop in to compete, but also features many a starry-eyed dreamer hoping to earn their slot on the “Dream Tour,” it’s likely the Olympics will feature a few well-known faces and many lesser-knowns. Much like a QS 6,000 event like the Vissla Sydney Surf Pro.
Second, Kelly Slater himself explained in a recent interview that rogue storms will be the only swell-makers for Tsurigasaki Beach during the event window, and organizers are already making contingency plans if the surf is bad. In other words, knee-high slop may be the waves du jour on offer for surfing’s Olympic debut.
So, if Slater were to qualify and the conditions at Manly are similar to what we can expect in Japan come 2020, the question that remains is how will everyone fair?
For Kelly’s part, he’s already given us a glimpse (above) of what his quest for an Olympic medal might look like.
