‘Like giving birth out of a foot’

Eleven-time world surfing champion Kelly Slater withdraws from the J-Bay Open after suffering a horrific broken foot.

Slater winning his round-one heat at J-Bay this week.

Eleven-time world surfing champion Kelly Slater has been forced to withdraw from the J-Bay Open in South Africa after suffering a horrific broken foot.

Slater posted a gruesome X-ray image on Instagram of his injury which he suffered while freesurfing. The 45-year-old broke two bones in his foot as his board bounced back into his foot while surfing at nearby Boneyards and will be out of action for six weeks after surgery.

“You ever folded your entire foot backwards? If you try it sometime, this is what it might look like,’’ Slater wrote on his post.

“I pulled into a barrel this morning and the whitewash bounced the board back into my foot as I hit the closeout, taking all the pressure into the metatarsals. Kinda like smashing my foot with a big hammer as hard as I can. Sorta feels like I’m giving birth out of my foot right now!

“I’m guessing surgery and 6 week holiday is in order. Not looking forward to 30 hour flight home before surgery though. Ouch! It sucks but so many people deal with such horrible things around this world everyday that a broken foot is pretty minor in the scheme of things. “Sometimes a bad thing is a good thing. I’ll make the best of my time off.’’

In a near perfect display at South Africa’s Jeffreys Bay Brazil’s Filipe Toledo threw down the gauntlet to the field in the second round of the event. First the Brazilian nailed a 9.63 that featured a series of Mick Fanning-esque cutbacks and a late tube ride before putting away Kanoa Igarashi with a perfect 10 that included a long tube ride into a couple of big turns and a pose on the wave exit.

The brilliant surfing came on a return to the tour for Toledo, who missed the Fiji Pro at Cloudbreak last month.

He’s also been given a saloon passage through to the next round after his mooted third round opponent Slater withdrew.

Also winning through in the second round was Australia’s Julian Wilson, who defeated compatriot Josh Kerr and moved into the third round along with Owen Wright.

Wright beat Australian rookie Ethan Ewing and was relieved to get through. “It feels nice to get going and get that round two out of the way,” Wright said. “It was a scrappy heat but it played out to my advantage. I felt like it was going to be a slow one so I knew I needed to get going. When you don’t get the best wave of the heat it’s tough to come back.” The duo join a plethora of Australians in the third round of the event where the highlight might just be the battle between Mick Fanning and Brazilian surfer Caio Ibelli.

Adrian Buchan and Stuart Kennedy were knocked out of the event in the second round.

AUSSIES IN ACTION AT J-BAY IN THE THIRD ROUND * Heat 2 Gabriel Medina (BRA) v Bede Durbridge (AUS) * Heat 3 Owen Wright (AUS) v Ezekial Lau (HAW) * Heat 4 Connor O’Leary (AUS) v Frederico Morais (PRT) * Heat 5 Mick Fanning (AUS) v Caio Ibelli (BRA) * Heat 9 Julian Wilson (AUS) v Jeremy Flores (FRA) * Heat 10 Joel Parkinson (AUS) v Conner Coffin (USA) * Heat 12 Matt Wilkinson (AUS) v Jack Freestone (AUS)

With AAP