When competition got underway at the VIVO Rio Pro today, the Championship Tour was missing a goat-sized hole in the competitive field: Kelly Slater was absent.
Then, in a social media post on the opening day of the competition, the World Surf League revealed that Slater had withdrawn from the competition due to illness.
Captioning the post, the WSL wrote:
“BREAKING NEWS 🚨
@kellyslater has withdrawn from @vivo #RioPro due to an ongoing illness. As the 2nd highest ranked Brazilian surfer in the Challenger Series, @jadsonandre will take his place.”
Days before the WSL announcement, Slater posted a picture of his body temperature on his social media; the title read:
“When my illness started the other day. Day 5 of being sick now. Fevers, sinuses, chills, headaches, stomach flu, etc. Glad I got home in the middle of the onslaught .
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