Freestone humble giant-killer

AUSTRALIAN surfer Jack Freestone has claimed the biggest win of his brief career with a round three upset of 11-time world champion Kelly Slater yesterday at the World Surf League’s Margaret River Pro.

It was an inglorious exit for fan favourite Slater, who recently turned 45 and has hinted that his 25th professional season will be his last.

“I don’t love those first heats – it’s always a guinea pig heat,” Slater said.

Slater and Freestone both pushed hard during their heat, aggressively taking on waves ranging from 4-5m. Freestone quickly grabbed the upper hand, scoring a 7.33 to put Slater in the unusual position of having to play catch-up.

“I was a bit over-amped, and instead of rationalising the heat I was just looking for a giant barrel. I should’ve had a talk to myself,” Slater said.

Freestone earned a 6.5 on his second wave to post a combined score of 13.83, with his star opponent managing 11.07.

“There was so much wind and I didn’t know what the situation was, and I couldn’t really hear anything until about two minutes to go,” Freestone said.

“They read out the scores and I heard it pretty clearly. I wanted to let off but you just can’t against Kelly.

“The waves were really good and it was amazing to surf against Kelly out there.”

Australian world No. 1 Owen Wright held his nerve in crunch time, progressing to round four after scoring an 8.07 on his last ride to beat Brazil’s Ian Gouveia 14.24 to 11.67.