Leo’s ex comforts Kelly as he loses crown to a young contender

The most successful professional surfer in the history of the sport may be about to hang up his wetsuit. Kelly Slater, the 35-year-old from Cocoa Beach, Florida, who is as famous for his glamorous girlfriends as for mastering those roller-coaster waves, lost his world title this week when a young Australian, Mick Fanning, overtook him in the race for championship points at Imbituba, Brazil.

Slater, who has been surfing's world champion a record eight times, dropped strong hints earlier in the season that he would retire if he lost the title. But while he may have lost the crown, he has one reason to be cheerful - the gorgeous Israeli model Bar Refaeli who has been dating him after breaking up with Leonardo diCaprio last month.

Slater, it seems, makes a thing of picking up damsels in distress after their splits from starry boyfriends - Gisele Bundchen (when the boyfriend in question was again diCaprio), Pamela Anderson (dumped by Tommy Lee) and Cameron Diaz (after Justin Timberlake).

Meanwhile, the lovely Bar, 22, is suing the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth for libel after it published an interview in which she was quoted as saying: "Why is it good to die for our country? Isn't it better to live in New York?" Her lawyer claims this and other quotes were false and represented Refaeli "in a ludicrous and poisonous way, essentially abandoning her to public fury for no reason." ·