The King put his stamp even more firmly on world surfing by beating Jordy Smith in a relatively tame final, held in fun four foot waves at Peniche in Portugal. Despite Jordy landing a backhand superman air his lack of a backup wave gave a busy Slater the scoring edge.
Asked about his thoughts on closing in on a 10th world title Kelly said, “It’s obviously a very big deal for me. If it happens, it will be a major accomplishment for me in my life. I’m fortunate to have an amazing circle of friends around me: my girlfriend Kalani, Belly (Stephen Bell), Travis (Lee) and a bunch of others. Today’s win puts me another step closer and we’ll see what happens in Puerto Rico.”
Jordy is now the only other surfer left with a chance in this year’s title race. We’re sticking with our prediction from earlier in the year: Jordy takes the crown at Pipe. Although K10 does have a pretty cool ring to it.
Next stop on the Dream Tour is Puerto Rico for the Rip Curl Search contest.
