Watch: Not Kelly Slater, but This 90YO Surfing Sensation Is Breaking the Internet With His Extraordinary Skills

Kelly Slater has dominated the surfing world for the last 30 years. The sensational athlete has won numerous competitions, including the World Championships 11 times. Regarded as the world’s greatest surfer, Slater took on the heavy challenge of trying out for the 2024 Paris Olympics at 51 years of age. Although he failed to advance to the final round of the World Surf League Olympic trials, it took the world’s fifth-best surfer, Yago Dora, to defeat him. But is he the only experienced surfer of note in the world?

While Kelly Slater is the undisputed surfing G.O.A.T title holder, he is not the world’s oldest surfer. That title and honor safely rests with a Japanese nonagenarian named Sano Seiichi. Most people his age complain of back pain, poor eyesight, and many more serious illnesses. But this 90-year-old grandpa has still retained a towering figure and a fiery attitude to match. Recently, he celebrated his 90th birthday with a mind-blowing new trick on the surfboard that had the internet gasping for air.

Sano Seiichi’s amazing surfing trick

On September 18, Seiichi attempted a career-defining stunt to celebrate turning 90 years of age. Nippon TV News 24 Japan documented the whole incident and uploaded a small video clip on YouTube with the title, “World’s oldest surfer tries new trick”. Sano Seiichi took on the surfing challenge in Makinohara in the Shizuoka Prefecture of Japan. The video started with the surfing legend sitting on the floor with his limbs spreadeagled for a warm-up session.

His goal for the day was to expand his surfing skills and surf on one leg. Once he began taking the stance, the other leg tied to a leash started shaking. Seiichi could not maintain his balance and fell off his board, but the day was not over yet. Although his eyes were blazing with determination and confidence, the surfing superstar was not sure if he could manage it. Sano Seiichi said, “My heart is pounding,” yet he did not give up.

He got on to the longboard for a second time, but the sure-footed Seiichi turned goofy as soon as he raised one leg. He could not nail it in a couple of tries and said, “I’ll have to work on this one”. Sano Seiichi found his passion for surfing quite late and developed a knack for it. It fit his unique perspective in life and gave him a chance to prove the naysayers wrong.

Sano Seiichi challenges critics

Older people often find harsh critics at every turn telling them what to do and what to avoid. Sano Seiichi is not someone who leads his life according to the dictates of others. He said, “I don’t care what other people say about me,..I’m doing whatever I want”. He learned how to surf at 80 years of age, and now he performs age-defying aerial tricks on the waves. Before choosing surfing as his next mission Seiichi climbed Mount Fuji, Japan’s highest mountain at 3,776m at the age of 80.

Read More: “Too Scary”: World’s Oldest Male Surfer’s Goals Will Leave You in Awe

Speaking about his exploits at this stage in life, he joked, “I always thought of myself as a late bloomer. I am an unreliable person, but I firmly believe I am a late bloomer, always believing that someday I can be somebody”. Seiichi spends his days paddling and riding the waves in his hometown of Yokohama.

The Guinness World Records has recognized Sano Seiichi as the “World’s Oldest Surfer” in 2022. The Nippon TV news reporter revealed the secret to his surfing success in the background of the video, saying, “Sano says he stopped thinking about his age ever since he started surfing”. Seiichi still holds that record, which gives Kelly Slater another 40 years before he can assume this Japanese surfing legend’s title. However, it would be interesting to see what this 90yo legend has up his sleeves and take up his next challenge.

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