Days before 50th birthday, surfing great Kelly Slater wins Billabong Pro Pipeline in Hawai'i
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On Day 3 of the Winter Olympics, America's biggest victory might have come not on a frozen halfpipe in China, but in the warm waves of the Banzai Pipeline, thousands of miles away in Hawai'i.
The win belonged to Kelly Slater, the surfing great who turns 50 on Friday. Slater defeated a rider less than half his age to capture one of the sport's iconic events, the Billabong Pro Pipeline near the renowned reef off of Oahu.
Now that he's on top -- again -- Slater is starting to consider retirement. Nothing official, of course. Just thinking about it. For advice on the matter, Slater messaged with his buddy, Tom Brady, for a back-and-forth from one athlete dubbed the GOAT to another.
"It would be interesting if that happened in the same week," Slater cracked in an interview with The Associated Press, on the possibility that he would retire on the heels of Brady's announcement. "We'll see how that goes. I'm contemplating whether I stop now or really go full bore this whole year, which would be, in my eyes, really for the fans and saying goodbye to everybody after all the years of support they've given me."
Should he step away, he already has his retirement plans: surfing.
"Everyone who retires from surfing just goes surfing more," he said.![]()
Starting to consider retirement as he turns 50 this week, surfing great Kelly Slater showed he can still compete with his win in the Billabong Pro Pipeline. Koji Hirano/Getty Images
Not everyone has won this much. Slater was the youngest world champion when he captured the title at 20. He was also the oldest when he won it at 39. He just finished his last contest in his 40s with a win too.
In all, he has become a household name and captured 11 world championships. His win over the weekend was his eighth World Surf League Championship Tour victory on the Banzai. It also marked his 56th overall tour win.
To close out his latest victory, he beat Seth Moniz, a 24-year-old sensation from Hawai'i. Slater goes way back with Moniz's father, Tony, whom he looked up to when he was up and coming. One of the most touching moments of this day came when Seth Moniz embraced Slater, who was tearing up in the aftermath of the win.
"An honor to surf against him," Moniz said.
Only a few days earlier, it looked like Slater might be eliminated by pipeline favorite Barron Mamiya, who is 22. There were a handful of seconds on the clock when Slater caught a magical wave to steal the heat and advance.
That was a matter of his vast experience, combined with some timely good fortune, coming through.
"I mean, I kind of think of it like a martial art. You don't get worse as you get older, you get more experienced," said Slater, who also happens to be a scratch golfer.
"I'm turning 50," he added, "but I look at it more like I have almost 40 years of experience at this wave and I'm able to draw on moments I've had out here before and find confidence in that."
Still, the win was surreal, even for him.
"Indescribable, indescribable," he said. "A lifetime of dedication to one thing and it all comes together on a moment like that is, I don't know how you compare it to anything else."
Over his years of catching waves, he has seen the sport explode in popularity. This victory comes a mere six months after surfing made its Olympic debut. In keeping with the ethos of a true action-sports star, part of him loves the exposure and part of him is reluctant.
"I kind of think of it like a martial art. You don't get worse as you get older, you get more experienced."Kelly Slater, on his mindset toward surfing as he turns 50
Sometimes, though, it's just best to ride where the wave takes you.
"All of us, I guess, feel a little bit funny about any kind of mainstream thing with surfing," Slater said. "We want it to be a sport. We want it to have an outlet and get paid for it and stuff. But at the same time, we all feel so passionate about it that we want it to just be kind of sacred still, and secret and special."
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Nils van der Poel gives Sweden first speedskating medal since 1988
5:52 PM WIB
Associated Press
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BEIJING -- Nils van der Poel has run 20-something ultramarathons. He has gone skydiving hundreds of times. He has biked from one end of Sweden to the other. He has served a year in the army, completing his ranger training.
So when he needed a big kick on the final three laps of the Olympic 5,000-meter speedskating race, it was really no big deal.
Van der Poel, 25, gave Sweden its first Olympic speedskating medal since 1988, pulling off a stunning comeback to win gold Sunday at the Beijing Games.
He was a big favorite coming into the event as the reigning world champion, with an undefeated record in the distance events on this season's World Cup circuit.
Then he lived up to the hype -- though not without a few doubts.
"I was not so sure I was going to be the victor today," van der Poel said. "Perhaps the expectations drop as you feel like the goal is slipping. But there's still fight, and you've got to struggle through it. That's a challenge."
Challenge met.
Van der Poel turned on the speed at the end of the 12½-lap race to overcome Patrick Roest of the Netherlands with an Olympic record of 6 minutes, 8.84 seconds.
Roest had skated about an hour earlier in the sixth of 10 pairs, initially breaking the Olympic mark in 6.09.31. Then he nervously watched in the workout room as one pair after another failed to take down his time.
It looked as though van der Poel in the final group would come up short too, as he fell 2 seconds behind Roest's pace with three laps to go.
Then the Swede kicked it into another gear.
He thrilled the sparse crowd by slicing into Roest's time with each stride, his progression marked in real time on the scoreboard.
Turns out, van der Poel had just enough time to claim the gold. His final lap was a scorching 28.97 -- his second fastest of the grueling event.
"A perfect race," said Sweden's national coach, Joel Eriksson.![]()
Nils van der Poel used a surprising comeback to win gold in the 5,000 meters and give Sweden its first Olympic speedskating medal since 1988.
Van der Poel threw up his arms when he saw the "1" beside his name. Roest, watching the race on a video screen, let out a groan and dropped his head in disbelief, his coaches gathering around to console him.
The bronze went to Hallgeir Engebraaten of Norway in 6:09.88.
"The hard thing while speedskating is, the first 80% of the race, that's all about setting yourself up for the last laps," van der Poel said. "When the last laps come, that's when it [stinks] the most, but you also know it's the last laps. You just go for it. You give it your all."
Van der Poel became the first Swedish speedskater to claim a medal since Tomas Gustafson won a pair of golds in the 5,000 and 10,000 at the Calgary Games 34 years ago. Since then, the Swedes had not finished higher than seventh in an Olympic race.
Roest knew it would be hard to hold off van der Poel. Still, it was a bitter pill to swallow when he saw a potential gold medal slipping away.
"When you're so close, it's just painful," Roest said. "Of course, it's nice to have an Olympic silver. But when you're that close to the gold, it's very hard."
Van der Poel got a break on the draw, winding up in the final pair, where he knew what time he would need to win gold.
Having skated much earlier, Roest felt helpless as he watched the Swede going faster and faster.
"You cannot do anything about it anymore," Roest said. "It's not in your hands anymore. That's painful."
Sven Kramer's quest for a fourth straight speedskating gold medal in the 5,000 ended quickly.
The 35-year-old Dutchman skated in the first pair of the day and finished in 6:17.04 -- more than 7 seconds off his gold-medal-winning time at the Pyeongchang Games and good enough for only ninth.
"I expected much better, but I didn't feel well today," Kramer said. "I was really going for it."
Kramer was the first male skater to win the same event at three consecutive Olympics, but he is no longer the world's dominant long-distance performer.
He plans to retire after the Beijing Games but still has a couple of events to go. He will also compete in the mass start and team pursuit.
No matter what, Kramer is already assured of leaving the sport as the most decorated male speedskater in Olympic history, with nine medals over the past four Games, including four golds.
"I'm not really thinking about that right now," Kramer said. "I'm looking forward to the team pursuit and the mass start. Today wasn't good enough."
Emery Lehman and Ethan Cepuran of the United States finished 16th (6:21.80) and 17th (6:25.97), respectively.
Lehman filled in for teammate Casey Dawson, who has been stuck in the U.S. after testing positive for COVID-19 several weeks ago. Dawson still hopes to be cleared in time to get to Beijing for next week's team pursuit.
Van der Poel is looking forward to resuming the eclectic mix of physical challenges that help him stay motivated at the speedskating oval.
"Whatever you can get inspired by, you need to find that," he said. "What do you have to bribe yourself with to train more than the others?
"If you can find the answer to that, perhaps you can win the Olympics."
On Day 3 of the Winter Olympics, America's biggest victory might have come not on a frozen halfpipe in China, but in the warm waves of the Banzai Pipeline, thousands of miles away in Hawai'i.
The win belonged to Kelly Slater, the surfing great who turns 50 on Friday. Slater defeated a rider less than half his age to capture one of the sport's iconic events, the Billabong Pro Pipeline near the renowned reef off of Oahu.
Now that he's on top -- again -- Slater is starting to consider retirement. Nothing official, of course. Just thinking about it. For advice on the matter, Slater messaged with his buddy, Tom Brady, for a back-and-forth from one athlete dubbed the GOAT to another.
"It would be interesting if that happened in the same week," Slater cracked in an interview with The Associated Press, on the possibility that he would retire on the heels of Brady's announcement. "We'll see how that goes. I'm contemplating whether I stop now or really go full bore this whole year, which would be, in my eyes, really for the fans and saying goodbye to everybody after all the years of support they've given me."
Should he step away, he already has his retirement plans: surfing.
"Everyone who retires from surfing just goes surfing more," he said.
Not everyone has won this much. Slater was the youngest world champion when he captured the title at 20. He was also the oldest when he won it at 39. He just finished his last contest in his 40s with a win too.
In all, he has become a household name and captured 11 world championships. His win over the weekend was his eighth World Surf League Championship Tour victory on the Banzai. It also marked his 56th overall tour win.
To close out his latest victory, he beat Seth Moniz, a 24-year-old sensation from Hawai'i. Slater goes way back with Moniz's father, Tony, whom he looked up to when he was up and coming. One of the most touching moments of this day came when Seth Moniz embraced Slater, who was tearing up in the aftermath of the win.
"An honor to surf against him," Moniz said.
Only a few days earlier, it looked like Slater might be eliminated by pipeline favorite Barron Mamiya, who is 22. There were a handful of seconds on the clock when Slater caught a magical wave to steal the heat and advance.
That was a matter of his vast experience, combined with some timely good fortune, coming through.
"I mean, I kind of think of it like a martial art. You don't get worse as you get older, you get more experienced," said Slater, who also happens to be a scratch golfer.
"I'm turning 50," he added, "but I look at it more like I have almost 40 years of experience at this wave and I'm able to draw on moments I've had out here before and find confidence in that."
Still, the win was surreal, even for him.
"Indescribable, indescribable," he said. "A lifetime of dedication to one thing and it all comes together on a moment like that is, I don't know how you compare it to anything else."
Over his years of catching waves, he has seen the sport explode in popularity. This victory comes a mere six months after surfing made its Olympic debut. In keeping with the ethos of a true action-sports star, part of him loves the exposure and part of him is reluctant.
"I kind of think of it like a martial art. You don't get worse as you get older, you get more experienced."Kelly Slater, on his mindset toward surfing as he turns 50
Sometimes, though, it's just best to ride where the wave takes you.
"All of us, I guess, feel a little bit funny about any kind of mainstream thing with surfing," Slater said. "We want it to be a sport. We want it to have an outlet and get paid for it and stuff. But at the same time, we all feel so passionate about it that we want it to just be kind of sacred still, and secret and special."
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Privacy Policy
Interest-Based Ads© ESPN Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved.
Nils van der Poel gives Sweden first speedskating medal since 1988
5:52 PM WIB
Associated Press
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BEIJING -- Nils van der Poel has run 20-something ultramarathons. He has gone skydiving hundreds of times. He has biked from one end of Sweden to the other. He has served a year in the army, completing his ranger training.
So when he needed a big kick on the final three laps of the Olympic 5,000-meter speedskating race, it was really no big deal.
Van der Poel, 25, gave Sweden its first Olympic speedskating medal since 1988, pulling off a stunning comeback to win gold Sunday at the Beijing Games.
He was a big favorite coming into the event as the reigning world champion, with an undefeated record in the distance events on this season's World Cup circuit.
Then he lived up to the hype -- though not without a few doubts.
"I was not so sure I was going to be the victor today," van der Poel said. "Perhaps the expectations drop as you feel like the goal is slipping. But there's still fight, and you've got to struggle through it. That's a challenge."
Challenge met.
Van der Poel turned on the speed at the end of the 12½-lap race to overcome Patrick Roest of the Netherlands with an Olympic record of 6 minutes, 8.84 seconds.
Roest had skated about an hour earlier in the sixth of 10 pairs, initially breaking the Olympic mark in 6.09.31. Then he nervously watched in the workout room as one pair after another failed to take down his time.
It looked as though van der Poel in the final group would come up short too, as he fell 2 seconds behind Roest's pace with three laps to go.
Then the Swede kicked it into another gear.
He thrilled the sparse crowd by slicing into Roest's time with each stride, his progression marked in real time on the scoreboard.
Turns out, van der Poel had just enough time to claim the gold. His final lap was a scorching 28.97 -- his second fastest of the grueling event.
"A perfect race," said Sweden's national coach, Joel Eriksson.
Van der Poel threw up his arms when he saw the "1" beside his name. Roest, watching the race on a video screen, let out a groan and dropped his head in disbelief, his coaches gathering around to console him.
The bronze went to Hallgeir Engebraaten of Norway in 6:09.88.
"The hard thing while speedskating is, the first 80% of the race, that's all about setting yourself up for the last laps," van der Poel said. "When the last laps come, that's when it [stinks] the most, but you also know it's the last laps. You just go for it. You give it your all."
Van der Poel became the first Swedish speedskater to claim a medal since Tomas Gustafson won a pair of golds in the 5,000 and 10,000 at the Calgary Games 34 years ago. Since then, the Swedes had not finished higher than seventh in an Olympic race.
Roest knew it would be hard to hold off van der Poel. Still, it was a bitter pill to swallow when he saw a potential gold medal slipping away.
"When you're so close, it's just painful," Roest said. "Of course, it's nice to have an Olympic silver. But when you're that close to the gold, it's very hard."
Van der Poel got a break on the draw, winding up in the final pair, where he knew what time he would need to win gold.
Having skated much earlier, Roest felt helpless as he watched the Swede going faster and faster.
"You cannot do anything about it anymore," Roest said. "It's not in your hands anymore. That's painful."
Sven Kramer's quest for a fourth straight speedskating gold medal in the 5,000 ended quickly.
The 35-year-old Dutchman skated in the first pair of the day and finished in 6:17.04 -- more than 7 seconds off his gold-medal-winning time at the Pyeongchang Games and good enough for only ninth.
"I expected much better, but I didn't feel well today," Kramer said. "I was really going for it."
Kramer was the first male skater to win the same event at three consecutive Olympics, but he is no longer the world's dominant long-distance performer.
He plans to retire after the Beijing Games but still has a couple of events to go. He will also compete in the mass start and team pursuit.
No matter what, Kramer is already assured of leaving the sport as the most decorated male speedskater in Olympic history, with nine medals over the past four Games, including four golds.
"I'm not really thinking about that right now," Kramer said. "I'm looking forward to the team pursuit and the mass start. Today wasn't good enough."
Emery Lehman and Ethan Cepuran of the United States finished 16th (6:21.80) and 17th (6:25.97), respectively.
Lehman filled in for teammate Casey Dawson, who has been stuck in the U.S. after testing positive for COVID-19 several weeks ago. Dawson still hopes to be cleared in time to get to Beijing for next week's team pursuit.
Van der Poel is looking forward to resuming the eclectic mix of physical challenges that help him stay motivated at the speedskating oval.
"Whatever you can get inspired by, you need to find that," he said. "What do you have to bribe yourself with to train more than the others?
"If you can find the answer to that, perhaps you can win the Olympics."
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