Kelly Slater emotional after stunning surf world at Pipeline

Kelly Slater found it hard to find the right words when interviewed immediately following a wave that has stunned the surf world.

Surfing icon Kelly Slater is being celebrated as the greatest athlete of all time after he left the sporting world stunned during a wild Pipleline heat victory on Wednesday.

The 12-time world champion is less than two weeks away from turning 50, but showed he remains a force in surfing when knocking out Hawaiian rising star Barron Mamiya.

Slater produced a moment of sheer magic as he scored a near-perfect wave with just seconds left to come from behind and win his heat — setting up a quarter-final against Japan’s Kanoa Igarashi.

With less than 10 seconds remaining in the heat, Slater needed a 7.18 score to progress, his wave finally arrived with three seconds remaining and he went berserk with a huge drop into a barrel that seemed to last for ever.

The local crowd at the famous Oahu reef break could be heard losing it on the World Surf League broadcast before the wave even spat him out the other end.

When there are 10 seconds left don't count the GOAT out. @kellyslater
Watch the Billabong Pro Pipeline on https://t.co/ie0ZfNdmHw. @billabong1973pic.twitter.com/TqP5TgjLhh

— World Surf League (@wsl) February 2, 2022

“That’s why we do it, you know, having that kind of moment,” an emotional Slater said on the beach shortly after, according to Reuters.

“I know it’s early in the contest, but Barron is the next generation out there. It was just a pleasure to surf against him.”

The veteran surfer had incredibly already won six world titles before Mamiya was even born in 2000.

Kelly Slater (L) and Lucca Mesinas of Peru drop into a left and right at Pipeline on day one of the Billabong Pipeline Masters. Photo by Brian Bielmann / AFP.

The emotion of the moment was briefly too much for Slater and he cut his post-heat interview off briefly to go and shake hands with Mamiya.

He took to Instagram after the heat to explain his feelings.

“What a moment. Thanks everyone for enjoying that with me,” he wrote on his Instagram stories.

“And thanks to @Barronmamiya for a battle! You the man! And you’ve got about 25 more years of Pipe events and I know you’ll mail a couple of ‘em.”

The surf world was blown away by Slater’s freak performance.

Canadian winter Olympian Trennon Paynter described Slater as the greatest athlete ever.

Professional surfer Parker Coffin wrote on Instagram Slater’s wave was “true GOAT s***”.

UFC fighter Marlon Chito Vera posted described Slater as a “wizard” when reaching out to the surfing legend.

11-time WSL Champion Kelly Slater of the United States. Photo by Ed Sloane/WSL via Getty Images.

Slater’s performance at Oahu’s North Shore has led to increased belief he could actually win the world title this year.

However, that has been further clouded by revelations last month Slater has “no chance” of getting into Australia for upcoming events without being vaccinated, according to the federal government.

Slater has made it clear he is against the safe and effective jabs.

Defending tennis world number one Novak Djokovic, Slater last month bizarrely declared “maybe Stockholm Syndrome can now change its name to Melbourne/Australia syndrome” and “so much brainwashed hatred in people’s hearts regardless of vax status”.

Slater’s vaccination and immigration headache is expected to play out before the WSL men’s championship tour heads to Australia before the Bells Beach Pro is scheduled to begin on April 10 in Victoria.