Surfers Kelly Slater and Stephanie Gilmore were honored by the World Surfing League on Wednesday at the annual WSL Awards in Coolangatta, Australia, .
The award for Best Heat went to Slater and John John Florence in honor of their matchup in the Billabong Pro Tahiti last August. The two surfers each performed at an outstandingly high level and tied with near-perfect scores in the semifinals, necessitating a tiebreaker, which Slater narrowly won.
鈥淭he pinnacle of pro surfing for me is to have a heat against this guy in big barrels,鈥 Slater 聽following the competition. 鈥淚t鈥檚 easy for me to say, 鈥榗ause I won the heat, but I think in a few years, we鈥檒l probably be like, 鈥楾hat鈥檚 cool. We tied.鈥欌
Slater, whom聽国产吃瓜黑料 profiled in January, went on to take a close second place to Gabriel Medina in the World Championship Tour in December.
The award for Women鈥檚 World Champion was handed to Australian Stephanie Gilmore in acknowledgement of her performances at the Cascais Women鈥檚 Pro in October, the Swatch Women鈥檚 Pro in September, and the Roxy Pro Gold Coast in March. The 27-year-old surfer, whom聽国产吃瓜黑料 profiled in February, took first place at all three events and won her sixth world surfing title in November, .
鈥淭he level of talent on tour has never been higher, and the surfing has never been more exciting,鈥 Gilmore said during her acceptance speech on Wednesday, . 鈥淭o come away with a win in that kind of environment was incredibly rewarding on a personal level.鈥