“He Wanted to Beat…”: 3x WSL Champion Opens Up About His Time Competing Against Surfing Legend Kelly Slater

The World Surf League is currently a hot topic in the world of sports right now. During the Rio Pro Tournament in Brazil, the competition has already received its finalists after several dazzling performances. However, while these finalists fight for the top spot in the tournament, no surfing challenge can go without the discussion of the greatest surfer ever to ride the waves, Kelly Slater.

The world has been actively watching every move of the 11x WSL champion, and they just can’t get enough of their favorite surfer. Nobody can deny how valuable a candid inside story is over all the other information on the web. And who else to give a glimpse and a deeper insight into the surfing legend’s personality than his friend and three-time WSL champion, Mick Fanning.

Mick Fanning’s inside look into the life of Kelly Slater

The 42-year-old veteran surfer talked about his time when he was Slater’s roommate, in a recently uploaded video on the YouTube channel named “GYPSY TALES.” Fanning said that Slater was a competitive person down to the bone marrow. The 3x WSL champion said that while it was visible to everyone that Slater was competing with the other surfers, in his mind, he was also competing with his own self.

It can be safely said that the legendary surfer considers himself his greatest competitor and would wreak havoc in every competition he took on in his pursuit. “He wanted to beat himself so bad that he would just embarrass everyone else because he was so good!”  Fanning added.

This very well showcases the hunger Slater had, and his hunger didn’t stop at just winning the championships. His raging hunger didn’t stop at becoming the best, but it exceeded to beating the best surfer in the world: Himself!

The Dominance of Kelly Slater and Andy Irons

Besides talking about Slater, Fanning was also asked about his time with the late swimming genius Andy Irons. Fanning straight up said that “there were a lot of times where it was just pretty much a two-person tour.”  Fanning mentioned that both these men were unstoppable when they were switched on and that both of them were switched on pretty much all the time.

When asked if Slater and Irons were similar, Fanning plainly declined it. He said that both these men were very competitive and did the same thing: winning events and leaving their competitors in the sand. Despite this, both were made of very different elements.

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The Australian surfer shared that Irons didn’t limit his competitive nature just to the ocean but used to carry it on his sleeve everywhere. He said that he would take even a game of Scrabble very seriously. On the other hand, Slater seemed lost in his own world, competing against himself.

While Irons was very overt with his competitive nature, Slater was the opposite and was covert with his competitiveness. What do you think helps bring out the best in a person? Competing with others or competing with oneself?

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