The World Surf League Championship Tour is in full swing and heading into the second half of its season. With stops in Hawaii, Portugal, Australia, and more, the tour looks to return stateside with a very important event. In early June, the best surfers in the world will return to Lower Trestles, California, the site of the Finals event for the last few years. This time, however, the remaining field will be in attendance following the mid-season cut. Not just the top five, as in years past. To make things even more interesting, 11-time World Champion Kelly Slater has just been announced as a wildcard entry.
Slater is known in all surfing circles as the best surfer in the world. His historic career is currently unmatched and may never be matched again. Slater was still competing on the tour at 50 years old before stepping away last year to focus on family. Now he is looking to step back in with the best around for another turn in California. Never fully stating retirement, at 53 years old, Slater left the door open for opportunities such as this wildcard position.
“I’m excited to surf Lowers after having a few months of downtime with family and watching the events online,” said Slater in a press release. “Surfing this event obviously makes good sense with Outerknown sponsoring the event (and celebrating our 10th anniversary). Trestles has been an ongoing great memory for the past 35 years since I won my first event as a professional there, had a number of great wins there while on Tour, and is my girlfriend’s hometown and a second home to me. So I’m looking forward to competing as a wildcard and surf against a top seed or two straight away. At Outerknown, we do things a bit differently, and this is a different twist for me, being the underdog. I’m honored and excited to compete next month.”
As mentioned by Slater, his apparel company, Outerknown, will be the presenting partner and official apparel sponsor for this event. There will also be a shop at the event where fans can buy Outerknown products and even win a day at Kelly Slater’s Surf Ranch in Lemoore, CA.
Lower Trestles will be the site for surfing in the 2028 Summer Olympic Games
This is the second wildcard opportunity for Slater this year. He appeared in the first event of the year, The Lexus Pipe Pro. Slater placed fifth in the event. The field for this event will be cut to 24 men and 12 women following the mid-season cut after the Western Australia Margaret River Pro. The Trestles event is especially important this year because it will be the location of the surfing event at the 2028 Olympic Summer Games being held in Los Angeles, California. This trip to Lower Trestles can be seen as a preview event for the upcoming Olympic Games.
The Lexus Trestles Pro Presented by Outerknown event has a competition window from June 9-17. Tune into WorldSurfLeague.com and WSL on YouTube for all the opening round action.