Eleven-times world champion Kelly Slater has been sensationally eliminated from the men’s competition in the world championship surfing event on the Gold Coast.
Slater was defeated by Gold Coast surfer Josh Kerr, who grabbed the lead in the dying minutes of the quarter-final, leaving Slater searching for a wave that never came.
Kerr says taking Slater out of the opening competition of the year has really boosted his confidence.
“It’s going to open up that world title a bit in the start of the year anyway, so that’s good,” he said.
“When you take down Kelly it’d be almost a bad thing if I didn’t win the comp now,” he laughed.
Kerr said he didn’t lose momentum over the past five lay days.
“Walking down the street, people were calling out ‘kick Kelly’s arse’ it was almost like going into an MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) battle, but it’s been good fun having that little buildup for a few days.”
A bitterly disappointed Joel Parkinson, hoping to start his world championship campaign with a win at his home break, was eliminated by South Africa’s Jordy Smith while Brazil’s Adriano De Souza beat Australian Owen Wright.
The last Australian surfer through to the semi-finals was Taj Burrow who defeated Adrian Buchan.