Surfing Legend Kelly Slater Relives Rare 30-Year-Old Memory of His First Major Win in a Black and White Clip

The American Legend Kelly Slater is without a doubt the most popular surfer in the world. For many decades, the surfing world has drawn inspiration from The GOAT’s outstanding wave records. Slater is famous for winning 11 World Championships and holding the record for being the youngest and oldest male world champion. From black and white telecasted interviews to watching those interviews on advanced colored screens while still competing for the next big win, that’s something that defines Slater.

The record-setter often reminisces the greatest surfing memories of his career on his Instagram. Recently, a nostalgic first win of the surfer resurfaced, he shared the video on his Instagram story remembering the event.

A special win for Kelly Slater from the 90s career archives

Kelly Slater reshared a reel posted by @wslbrasil which featured the interview after his first world title win in 1992 in Brazil. The surfing champion captioned the story, “Right after winning my first world title in ’92.@sunnygarcia @thomasvictorcarroll @ws erci6666.” As seen in the reel, young Slater was standing beside the interviewer when he reported, “The one who became champion World Cup this morning, when Sunny Garcia automatically lost the American Kelly Slater in the first heat became Champion went to his heat a little relaxed lost to Tom Carrol but it’s virtual.”

“Do you think you can improve on what Tom Curren did? You’ve already beaten one of his records.” The youngest surfer to ever win the title then replied with confidence, “Well… That would be very difficult, because… Tom Curren has already won 3 World Titles He won the World Titles through the trials and the championships. He was the first to regain the World Title. He won with the most points, he has all the records. So it will be very difficult. I’m not thinking about that now, I’m just thinking about the World Title I won and I hope to win another one one day…”

The reel was captioned, “I hope to win another World Title one day. And didn’t he make it? This year GOAT @kellyslater returns to Brazil to compete in the #VivoRioPro presented by Corona, which starts next Friday, June 23. @Vivo @coronabrasil.” His competitors, Tom Curren, Mark Richards, and Andy Irons, failed to win even half of his world championship titles after his record. Slater dominated the sport back in the days with several significant victories.

Highlights of the accelerating surfing career after the first big win

Interestingly, the 30-year-old moment remains unmatched as the three-time World Champion, Tom Curren never won another title. In 1992, the interviewer concluded in an intimidating manner, saying, “He(Slater) doesn’t really expect to be able to overcome the Tom Curren who has already won three times. Who was the only one who could really recover a World Title after losing it and several other records that Tom Curren still holds?” Inspired by Curren, the first American to win a men’s world championship, Slater went on to achieve a record-breaking 11 world championships.

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The most accomplished surfer has won 55 competitions in total, 56 Championship Tour victories, and 8 Billabong Pipeline Masters crowns, which speak to his tenacity and consistency. At the age of 49, he won the Billabong Pipeline. Even today the American surfer continues to search for the wildest waves and win the surfing titles. With his recent goal to win in the Olympics, the 51-year-old leaves no room for doubts about being the greatest professional surfer of all time.

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