Kelly pulls out of Billabong Pro Rio Leg

Following an injury to his ankle sustained in Java, Kelly has decided to pull out of the next leg of the tour in Brazil.

“I injured the inside of my left heel in Java and then re-opened it again the following week at Cloudbreak,” Slater said. “It became infected and I flew to Australia to get it treated and stitched in hopes of making it to Rio, if not for Round 1, at least for Round 2. I’ve been in the water since getting it stitched and while I can go straight, I can’t do turns at all right now so I’ll have to pull out of Rio. It’s unfortunate, but I’m just going to focus on healing up as soon as possible right now. Good luck to all the competitors in Brazil and I’ll be watching online.”

Sure enough, it doesn’t seem like it’s anything too serious… here’s some recent footage of him hanging out on the Goldie from Surfing Life magazine.