- Instagram / retroyspective
- Instagram / retroyspective

Kelly Slater broke two metatarsal bones in his right foot Monday morning, while freesurfing up the point in Jeffreys Bay. He needed assistance making his way off site, and was taken to the hospital, where he was X-rayed (and posted the painful-looking results). The injury derails his promising start at the Corona Open J-Bay, where he had made it past Julian Wilson and Kanoa Igarashi in Round One, for a direct jump to Round Three.

Slater's Injury: How It Happened
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Kelly Slater broke his foot on a seemingly harmless wave at Jeffreys Bay, sidelining him for up to six weeks.

With an ice pack on his foot and looking visibly dejected, he mused that the injury would not only take him out the J-Bay event, but also the Billabong Pro Tahiti next month. It's an unfortunate turn of events for the 11-time World Champ, who told the WSL last October that he was making a serious run for a twelfth Title this year.

Currently sitting at No. 18 on the Jeep Leaderboard, Slater would have needed a few incredible results to get back on track, but as a four-time winner in J-Bay he was certainly hoping to make a stand here. The event here in J-Bay as well as Tahiti are two of his favorites.

11X World Champion and four-time event winner Kelly Slater of the USA freesurfing Supertubes before Round Two got underway and moving to Boneyards where he broke two bones in his foot while freesurfing and has officially withdraw from the competition. With perfect surf expected in the coming days Slater was hoping to put together another huge run at J-Bay, where he's won four times in his career, tying him with Mick Fanning for the most. - WSL / Kelly Cestari

Fortunately, after the initial letdown, Kelly was quick to put his problem in perspective. "A broken foot is pretty minor in the scheme of things," he posted on his Instagram. "I'll make the most of my time off."

Slater's Injury: The Fallout
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A rather harmless looking J-Bay closeout barrel broke Slater's foot, not to mention his comeback campaign dreams in 2017.

We wish Kelly a speedy recovery.

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