After being on fire all week, Kelly Slater stopped at nothing to carry that flame on into a victory over Australian Yadin Nicol at the US Open of Surfing (his first since 1996). As he has several times during this event, Slater paddled out into an 8.5 on his first wave and then went to work on a shockingly unresponsive Yadin Nicol.
With five minutes to go in the final, Nicol had still not even taken off on one wave. Then, two minutes later, Nicol finally took off on a closeout, popped a little ollie and jumped off his board. It appeared to take an act of will for Nicol to get a second wave to avoid a complete shut out.
Kelly Slater was his normal confident self following the heat. “Well, I guess Yadin wanted me to win. He didn’t catch any waves,” Slater said. “But, I was feeling frustrated for him. The big ones were close outs. And he was sitting a little too far outside to get the smaller ones that I picked off. I got the 8.5 to start and he knew he had to get a big wave to start. So he was trying to be patient.”
Sadly, the ocean never came through for Nicol and he suffered what so many surfers before him have–a complete unraveling in a heat with the best surfer who has ever lived.
If Nicol had to blame the heat on one thing it would be Slater’s opening 8.5. “That sucked for me. Whenever someone opens up with a big score you have to wait,” Nicol said. “I think I waited a little too long. If someone had told me at the beginning of the week that i would get second and even get the chance to surf with Kelly at the end of the week, I would have said beat it. So I’m pretty over the moon.”
Complete results and official word from ASP after the jump.
HUNTINGTON BEACH, California / USA (Sunday, August 7, 2011) – Reigning 10-Time ASP World Champion Kelly Slater (Cocoa Beach, FL), 39, has won the 2011 ASP PRIME Nike US Open of Surfing for the first time since 1996, defeating Yadin Nicol (AUS), 26, in a dominant final in two-to-four foot (1 metre) waves at the iconic Huntington Beach Pier.
Slater quickly asserted his dominance in the Final against Nicol when he launched a frontside air-reverse and solidified the ride on the reform to earn an 8.50 and backed the ride up with a 7.77 to put the Australian in an early combination-situation and controlled the heat throughout the entirety of the bout.
“I guess Yadin (Nicol) wanted me to win because he didn’t catch any waves,” Slater said. “I was just really frustrated for him because he was sitting out the back waiting for the big sets and the big sets were close outs. The small ones he was just two far outside and I got them. I think what happened is I got the 8.50 to start and he was just going to be patient. If he got a good one he would have thrown a big rotator, but it just never came.”
Slater went on an absolute rampage on the final day of competition and fought his way back into a tough battle to overtake progressive Hawaiian Dusty Payne (Lahaina, HI), 22, by launching a hail-mary, no-grab backside 360 air. The massive punt garnered the highest single-wave score of Nike US Open of Surfing competition, 9.77 out of 10, as well as the highest heat-total of 17.94 out of 20.
“Dusty (Payne) had priority and he had gone on a couple of lefts that kind of fizzled out on him and he was probably thinking that left was going to do the same thing his other ones did,” Slater said. “It just let me get going on the face enough and I just tried to rotate as hard as I could and somehow the board stuck to my feet.”
Nicol fought hard throughout the entirety of the ASP PRIME competition, taking out dangerous South African Royden Bryson (ZAF), 28, and prodigious Californian Kolohe Andino (San Clemente, CA), 17, on the Final day of competition, but struggled to find a wave in the Final against Slater.
“Kelly started off strong with the 8.5 and I thought I’d wait for a good wave and I think I waited too long,” Nicol said. “At the start of this week I wouldn’t have thought that I’d be in the Final with Kelly. I love it. Sometimes things work out and you make the Final and I’m stoked, I’m over the moon.”
Yadin, who was rated No. 36 entering the US Open of Surfing, now sits at 27th on the ASP World Rankings, moving him inside the coveted ASP Top 32 midyear cut for the halfway mark of the year, but with two events remaining on the ASP World Title Season, Nicol remained guarded in claiming his spot for the final elite events.
“There are still two World Tour events to go so it doesn’t completely change my life just yet,” Nicol said. “It definitely helps the vibe though.”
Nike US Open of Surfing Men’s Final Result:
1 – Kelly Slater (USA) 16.27
2 – Yadin Nicol (AUS) 12.40
Nike US Open of Surfing Men’s Semifinals Results:
SF 1: Kelly Slater (USA) 17.94 def. Dusty Payne (HAW) 14.90
SF2: Yadin Nicol (AUS) 13.44 def. Kolohe Andino (USA) 12.87
Nike US Open of Surfing Men’s Quarterfinals Results:
QF 1: Dusty Payne (HAW) 13.93 def. Tanner Gudauskas (USA) 10.10
QF 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 15.50 def. Taj Burrow (AUS) 15.27
QF 3: Kolohe Andino (USA) 10.44 def. Dane Reynolds (USA) 10.33
QF 4: Yadin Nicol (AUS) 11.60 def. Royden Bryson (ZAF) 8.26
