Years After Sharing the Same Stage, Kelly Slater Calls Out Long-Time Rival to Re-Create Iconic Memory

Surfing is one of the most thrill-inducing sports and renders a great adrenaline rush to its pursuers. What else can be more fun? However, professional surfing sports include a lot of methods, skills, strength, determination, and talent to compete in the World Championships. But our dignified, elite surfers have always surpassed expectations and trounced the giant barrels with absolute finesse.

Kelly Slater, the GOAT of surfing has redefined the sport of surfing with a record of world titles. And John John Florence, another American surfer, proved himself as one of the most staunch surfing prodigies and now he is considered as one of the most dominant pipe surfers of his era. Both of these epic surfers have competed in various events and competitions. Nevertheless, in 2014, these two stellar surfers shared the arena and competed in the Billabong Pro, giving their fandom a surge of excitement. Interestingly, Slater recently reminisced about the moment and expressed his desire to relive the moment with Florence. 

The epic semifinals of 2014 

The World Surf League semi-final held in August 2014 was undoubtedly one of the greatest heat in surfing. It was conducted on the beautiful coasts of Tahiti, Teahupo’o where Slater and Florence were competing against one another. After competing for a quiet long time, both the surfers finished in 19.77.

Expressing his regard for the moment, the 11x World Surf League Champion added, “I’ve never seen anything like it and today will go down as one of the best days of surfing in my career, no question.” It was hard to determine the scores, but since Slater had one more single wave, he was announced the winner of the event. Recently, the social media handle of the World Surf League posted a picture of the iconic match on their Instagram, which was later reshared by Kelly Slater on his Instagram story.

He reminisced about the great event, and stated, “One of my favorite heats ever. Like to do a repeat this year with @john_john_florence.” Besides being competitors in the profession, Slater and John Florence share a close-knit bond. 

Kelly Slater and John Florence’s friendship 

Slater and Florence were once called for an interview in 2015 to celebrate this historical heat of surfing with UPROXX. Slater revealed that he does not even remember properly when he first met John, but John was about  7 years old.

The 11s WSL champion conceded they both have shared more years of friendship than competition with each other. And their friendship is beyond the boundaries of surfing. Both of them share the same cheerful bond to this day. 

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Kelly Slater told that he was excited about the competition with John Florence but on the other hand, he was a little scared about it. Florence said, “Jeez, this is going to be a scary day,” during the warm-up. Slater said, he already knew that the score is going to come in decimals because John was a tough competitor. However, both surfers battled phenomenally and the match still remains one of the most memorable surfing events of all time.

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