Kelly Slater Plans to Compete into His 60s: 'I Still Have a Chance'

It’s been almost four years since Robert Kelly Slater, the 11-time world champion and undisputed greatest of all time, won a Championship Tour surfing event.

That was the 2022 Billabong Pipeline Masters, and Slater won the competition just one week shy of his 50th birthday, beating in the final, Barron Mamiya, who was less than half his age (22) at the time. It was an emotional win for Slater; tears flowed on the podium.

In the years that followed, Slater’s competitive winning streak started to dwindle. He fell off the Tour in 2024, unofficially signaling something like retirement. Yeah, something like that. But now, at almost 54 years old, Slater is not slowing down. And during a recent appearance on the Ultimate Human Podcast with Gary Brecka, Slater said he’s keen to compete into his 60s. See below.

“Do you see yourself going back into competition, even just for fun?” the self-proclaimed biohacker podcast host asks the GOAT towards the one hour, 18 minute mark.

“Yeah, I’ll probably compete for at least another decade,” Slater replies. “Not necessarily professionally, or at a high-level of competition, but there’s a lot of team events that I want to do. As far as Tour event, I don’t know, the next two, three, four years…there’s a couple events I really love that I definitely have a chance at that suit my strengths.”

What might those strengths be?

“Basically a little bigger waves with barrels,” Slater explained. “Hollow waves. That’s probably what, after all this time, has become my real strength.”

Makes sense, as the last time Slater competed as a wildcard on the World Surf League’s Championship Tour, it was at the 2025 Lexus Trestles Pro. Lower Trestles, often called surfing’s skatepark, is notably not a bigger, hollow wave. Slater lost early.

Then, more recently, Slater was announced as a member of the A New Earth Project team for the currently up-and-running Da Hui Backdoor Shootout, held at Pipeline, the world’s most revered hollow wave,. Just like Slater discussed as his competitive strength.

Thing is with Slater, though: sometimes he shows up, sometimes not. Stay tuned.