Slater back for Margaret River surf event

Surfing legend Kelly Slater will to return to WA to compete in the Telstra Drug Aware Pro next month.

In a massive coup for the Margaret River event, the 11-times world surfing champion will join four-times world champion Stephanie Gilmore and Hawaiian teen sensation John John Florence in a star-studded line-up regarded the best in the event's history.

Premier Colin Barnett said the news possibly made the event the strongest non-World Championship Tour surfing event ever assembled.

He said Slater's attendance at the 2011 event boosted attendance and media coverage and he expected this year to be no different.

"Kelly Slater is a living sporting legend and to have him back at Margaret River is fantastic news for the event and the region," Mr Barnett said.

Slater's entry means all of the top four male surfers from last year's competition with compete at the event, with Joel Parkinson, Owen Wright and Taj Burrow already confirmed to compete at Surfers Point.

Joining Gilmore in the women's competition is Peru's former world champion Sofia Mulanovich and reigning Pro champion Courtney Conlogue.

Gilmore missed the Drug Aware Pro last year with a broken wrist following an attack by a man armed with a metal pole outside her Tweed Heads apartment.