Slater won with broken foot

By Hillard Grossman
Florida Today

Ever since Kelly Slater won the $250,000 Billabong Pro surfing tournament in Teahupoo, Tahiti, on Thursday, he's been hopping around like a kangaroo on one foot.

Six-time world champion Kelly Slater of Florida shoots the barrel of a wave on his way to capturing the Billabong Pro surfing championship in Teahupoo, Tahiti. Slater defeated Australian Taj Burrow in the final. Associated Press

"That hasn't really hit me yet," Slater said Saturday night from his hotel room in Tahiti. "I guess that makes me look pretty tough. But now I've got to weigh a lot of options."

Doctors said it would take four to six weeks for the fracture to completely heal, meaning he could miss the $250,000 Quiksilver Pro, which begins Sunday in Tavarua, Fiji, and the $250,000 Niijima Quiksilver Pro in Japan, which opens June 18.

The victory in Tahiti was worth $30,000 and boosted his career earnings to $871,255. More important, the six-time former world champion from Cocoa Beach, Fla., climbed from 11th place to a first-place tie in the World Championship Tour points standings with defending world champion Andy Irons of Kaua'i.

Missing a tournament such as the one in Fiji would cost Slater his fourth-place seeding, the highest he's had in five years, and could drop him as low as 25th. Seeding points are based on results from the past two years.

"I'm not positive what I'm going to do right now," said Slater, after X-rays revealed the fracture in the fourth metatarsal. "I've had one great result and two, what I consider, average finishes (ninth places), but when you're trying to get to the top ... I know I literally could not walk on it, though."

He does have one advantage: the left (front) foot carries the least amount of weight for a regular-footed surfer like Slater.

He suffered the injury in Tahiti after the third round, when he decided to go free-surfing during the evening. He said he pulled into a tube, got far back in it, and then a rush of whitewater from the lip shot the board back up into his left foot.

"Right then, I thought I'd broken it, but the doctors first said supposedly I had dislocated some toes," Slater said. "It was really swollen, so it was hard to find out what it was at that point. Before the fourth-round heats, I couldn't walk on it. They gave me some local anesthesia so I couldn't feel anything."

In Wednesday's fourth round, Slater didn't show any ill-effects, defeating veteran Australian Luke Egan.

"I didn't expect to get past the fourth round, which would have given me another ninth place," Slater said. "Once I got past that, I figured everything else would be a bonus."

On the final day of competition, he defeated Cory Lopez of Indian Rocks Beach, Fla., by just .20 points in the quarterfinals after not catching a wave for the first 10 minutes of their 30-minute heat and then winning it with a 9.77 ride with 2 minutes, 29 seconds remaining.

He then defeated Brazil's Danilo Costa after opening with scores of 8.50, 9.43 and 10.0 before knocking out Australian Taj Burrow in the final with scores of 9.57, 10.0 and 9.33.

"It's pretty rare when I can say I was 100 percent in my surfing — there's only been a couple of times in my career that has happened — but this was close," Slater said. "The waves were classic, I was in sync with the waves and, most importantly, I was calm. I was absolutely happy with the outcome. It was one of my best victories."

Slater said he has surfed with stitches, sprains and torn ligaments, but a bone break is unfamiliar territory for the 31-year-old superstar. Yesterday marked the first time in more than a month he had missed being in the water for three successive days.

The last time Slater took over the top spot in the WCT rankings was December of 1998, when he stepped away full-time from the tour for three years after capturing his fifth consecutive world crown. But he came back 12 months into semi-retirement to win his fifth Pipeline Masters in Hawai'i, and 16 months ago grabbed the $55,000 top prize in The Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational at Waimea Bay.

After coming back to the tour full time last year, Slater finished ninth in the final rankings, although he did not compete in every event due to the death of his father.

"You know what's funny?" Slater said. "The night before the finals, I got into bed and I dreamed that I had won the whole thing. But the only thing different about the way it happened is that in my dream I won $16 billion dollars. I was going up against my friend from California, Pat O'Connell, and second place was worth $450,000. We made a pact that whoever won would give the other guy $1 billion.

"Kind of crazy, huh?"

Well, maybe, but probably not as crazy as someone winning a surfing tournament with a broken foot.