WSL: Kelly Slater Can’t Qualify for the ’25 CT Via Wildcards

Juan Hernandez
·2 min read
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There seems to have been some confusion. In recent weeks, the Kelly Slater will-he-won’t-he retirement tour has been sprinkled with a dash of what if by surf fans, podcasts, and publications across the sport, including our own.

If you thought that the 2023 rule change implemented by the WSL allowing former world champions to accrue rankings points while competing as wildcards meant Slater still had an outside chance to re-qualify for the 2025 tour, you aren’t alone. Our own staff has had conversations trying to break down how that might work out. When the WSL announced Slater would get the two post-cut wildcards he applied for at the Fiji Pro and the upcoming Tahiti Pro, the possibility was referenced in our roundup of the news. The popular Surf Splendor podcast had the same discussion about page 18 of the WSL Rulebook; Section 1.12 (a) (i).

It turns out we’ve all misinterpreted the rule.

“Previous World Champions and WSL Final 5 competitors are eligible to earn points in the back half of the CT as the WSL Season Wildcards only,” the WSL Commissioner’s Office wrote to The Inertia in an email. “This rule only applies to the WSL Season Wildcards, and not to the event Wildcards. Kelly Slater was granted specific event Wildcards, and he was not granted the Season Wildcard. If he was granted the Season Wildcard, then his points would apply, as we saw last year.”

This isn’t all so clear when reading the Section 1.12 (a) (i) rule in which the WSL added the caveat for former champions:

…WSL Wildcards will not receive CT Ranking Points in CT Events after the Mid-Season Cut; provided that WSL in its sole discretion may elect for a single WSL Wildcard to compete in the CT Events after the MidSeason Cut for Ranking Points in the available WSL Wildcard slots if the Surfer is a former world champion or WSL Final five competitor.

In a subhead to “Ranking Points” on page nine (Chapter 1.05 (d)) of the rulebook, the policy is more directly stated:

CT Ranking Points will be awarded at all CT Events to all CT Surfers other than Event Wildcards at all CT Events.

So it sounds like Mr. Slater would have to re-qualify the same way everyone else has to if he wants to remain on the Championship Tour full time.

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The post WSL: Kelly Slater Can’t Qualify for the ’25 CT Via Wildcards first appeared on The Inertia.