Kelly Slater teases retirement after the 2024 Paris Olympics

The world’s greatest ever surfer and 11-time world champion Kelly Slater has revealed his epic career is finally coming to an end.

Surfing’s GOAT Kelly Slater is set to finish his career chasing the only accolade he’s yet to achieve, revealing he will retire after the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Surfing only joined the Olympics for the first time at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, with Brazil’s Italo Ferreira becoming the first Olympic gold medallist.

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The 51-year-old will chase the gold after he missed the 2021 games when he was named as the alternate for Team USA behind John John Florence and Kolohe Andino. The pair met in the third round with Kolohe knocking out Florence, before he was knocked out himself in the quarterfinals by eventual silver medallist Kanoa Igarashi.

But now Slater wants to end his career with Olympic glory.

The surfing GOAT won his first title in 1992 and had won titles across three decades with his 11th championship in 2011. It makes him both the youngest and oldest world champions in history.

But speaking with Guardian Australia ahead of the release of season 2 of the Apple TV World Surf League documentary Make or Break Slater revealed he’d finish up if he made the Olympics.

Kelly Slater is the GOAT of surfing. Photo by Matt Dunbar/World Surf League via Getty Images

Hard to remember a time before Kelly Slater was a surfing superstar. Photo by Matt Dunbar/World Surf League

The surfing competition will be held in Tahiti for the 2024 Games.

“If I make the Olympics, I’ll retire at the Olympics,” he said.

“I’m really hoping to qualify for it, but I need to get my butt into gear.

“The qualification process is going to be tough, but if I can get into the Olympics, the location the event is at in Tahiti – that wave really suits my strengths. So if I can get there I think I have a really good chance of a medal, but I think the harder part is going to be getting there, to be honest.”

The qualification will comprise of 48 surfers with a maximum number of two or three per nation per gender.

The qualification pathway requires competitors to be selected through the ISA World Surfing Games, the World Surf League Championship Tour and the Pan American Games.

In the World Surf League this year, the top 10 men and top eight women will qualify. Slater is currently ranked in a tie for 16th after two events of the current WSL season. But more importantly, he’s the fifth ranked American/Hawaiian currently behind Griffin Colapinto, John John Florence, Seth Moniz and Nat Young.

But it’s also not the first time Slater has announced his retirement, saying he would retire at the end of the 2019 season in July 2018.

Also after his win at Pipeline in 2022, the 56th of his career, Slater said: “That may be it for me”.

He’ll be 52 during the Paris 2024 Olympics — maybe this will actually be it.