Kelly Slater and Owen Wright, pleasure and pain in Teahupoo, Tahiti

Ain’t this just so very telling of the different emotions two finalists can experience? Kelly, on the left, just won the Billabong Pro, Tahiti, in the best waves seen by the event in, well, years. Maybe 10 of ’em (Kelly says best-ever). He’s just come off a win at the US Open of Surfing, Huntington, after skipping J-Bay to surf Cloudbreak and Restaurants. He’s now sitting at number one in the world, and well on the way to successfully scooping an 11th world title. ‘Unprecedented’ don’t even come close.

Then y’got Owen Wright, 21 years old and from Lennox Head, Australia. He’s just come second and is, in this moment, tasting the bitter-sweet of falling just behind Kelly, like so many before him. Sweet ’cause he made the final of a WT event and is now sitting at fifth on the ratings, but bitter ’cause he watched the Floridian champ do just what he needed to, and no more, to finish in front.

Look at Kelly’s face. Closely. D’ya think that, after all those contest victories, all those world titles, all the glory, that winning an event is any less sweet for him? No way.