Kelly Slater and his longtime girlfriend Kalani Miller have announced they’re expecting a baby.
In a video on Instagram, the couple revealed Kalani’s bump which is set to the sound of Ben Harper’s ‘The three of us’.
It’s the first child for the couple and the second for Kelly, who has a daughter named Taylor from a previous relationship.
It remains to be seen what this could mean for the 11x world champion’s future in competitive surfing. Kelly currently sits 33rd on the rankings and over 3,000 points below the mid-season cut line.
Having skipped the previous event in Portugal, Kelly is going to need significant results at Bells and Margeret River to be in with a chance of surviving the mid-year cut.
However, some career down-time could prove good timing with a child on the way.
Just like regular folk, pro surfers are no exception when it comes to the reality of daddy duties. But it doesn’t necessarily stop them from performing on the world stage and given Kelly’s renowned freakish competitive drive, it would come as no surprise to see Kelly rocking up to a WSL contest site with boards in one hand and a pram in the other.
Both Joel Parkinson and Filipe Toledo have picked up world titles with little ones in tow and surfers such as Jordy Smith and Miguel Pupo continue to battle it out on tour while having kids of their own.
Regardless of what the future holds for the GOAT’s career, the couple’s new baby is going to be one of the luckiest groms ever with an 11x world champion for a father and plenty of aunties and uncles who rip too.
