Kelly Slater adds surfing to sports in the 540 club

Kelly Slater adds surfing to sports in the 540 club

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Kelly Slater, the 11-time ASP World Champion, can carve another notch in his board — he became the first surfer to throw a 540 while catching a wave off the coast of Portugal.

In the excitement following Slater’s epic trick, a few over-zealous commentators declared the move a 720 (even though the aerial portion covers “only” one-and-one-half turns). No matter what you call it, the move officially adds surfing to sports that have eclipsed the 360.

[fusion_title size=”4″]SKATEBOARDING 540[/fusion_title]

Skateboarders have been landing 540s for years, and have since made the 1080 the new gold standard. Still, when 9-year-old Sabre Norris from Newcastle, Australia threw a 540 earlier this year the video racked up more than a million views.

[fusion_title size=”4″]BMX 540[/fusion_title]

Throwing a bunny-hop 540 on a BMX bike, requires some serious focus. As Brad Simms explains, the roll out from the spin is the trickiest part of the stunt.

[fusion_title size=”4″]ICE SKATING 540 PLUS[/fusion_title]

Not content with a mere one-and-a-half turns, ice skaters have graduated to the quadruple axel — or a full 1440 mind-numbing degrees.

[fusion_title size=”4″]TAE KWON DO 540[/fusion_title]

For sheer wow factor, it’s hard to compete with a 540 kick in martial arts. Toss in three kicks while spinning and you have a Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon move in real life.

[fusion_title size=”4″]CLIFF JUMPING 540[/fusion_title]

Jumping from an elevation provides more time to spin, so you might as well throw an inverted pose into your 540 for good measure.

[fusion_title size=”4″]BASKETBALL 540[/fusion_title]

A 360 jam is impressive enough, but add a half turn and it becomes the stuff of legends and a sure competition winner. In the above video, Team Flight Bothers’ T-Dub — standing a full five-foot-nine — throws down a 540 slam dunk in the finals at the 2010 NBA Live event.

2014-10-18T14:21:04+00:00 October 18th, 2014|

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