APP Crowns 2024 SUP Longboard & Junior World Champions

Much loved French Athlete Amandine Chazot is remembered the world over as her life and legacy is celebrated. | Photo: APP World Tour

GRAN CANARIA, Spain - Ahead of finals day for the SUP Longboard and Junior divisions, it was an incredibly emotional morning as long time APP athlete and much loved ambassador for the sport of stand up paddling, Amandine Chazot, was remembered with a traditional paddle out to honor her memory and say farewell. The athletes here at the final event of the APP World Tour gathered at the same time as all those gathered at her home in La Bretagne, France, to pay their respects and say farewell to someone who will be sorely missed by all those that had the privilege of knowing her.

Our thoughts go out to her partner Boris Jinvresse and her Son, Cillian, as well as all her family and friends at this difficult time along with the assurance that she will certainly not be forgotten and the legacy and inspiration she has left behind on this earth for all that knew her are unforgettable. Rest in peace Amandine.

Benoit Carpentier secures a long awaited victory in the SUP longboard division to be crowned 2024 World Champion. | Photo: APP World Tour

Longboard Division

Benoit Carpentier has been at the forefront of the development of SUP longboarding for many years now, driving board design with his sponsor Starboard and helping to define the direction of Stand Up longboarding as one of the fastest growing surfing formats. However, after two years of pushing for the Title in this division, Benoit was finally able to achieve his goal with a strong performance to earn him the World Championship Crown. However, he had to overcome some formidable talent and stand out performances to achieve the victory, with perhaps the toughest battle coming in the semi finals against the Brazilian, Leo Gimenes, who pushed him right to the very end for the win.

The two favorites coming into this event ended up meeting in the Final: the recently crowned World Champion for performance stand up paddle surfing and reigning SUP Longboard World Champion Taka Inoue and Benoit Carpentier. Taka posted excellent to near perfect scores throughout the day, clearly positioning himself as the man to beat, with some of the most radical hang 5's and 10's we have ever seen, but in the final, was unable to find the scores he needed to overcome the Frenchman, much to the delight of the Carpentier entourage.

While the surf was small for the finals, it provided a valuable testament to SUP longboarding's appeal and versatility, and the clean walls allowed the surfers plenty of high scoring potential. As the APP continues to define the competitive direction for this dynamic format, this event clearly illustrated its growth and popularity, with a full field of athletes stepping up to do battle.

Kaede Inoue secures her unprecedented third consecutive World Title in the SUP Longboard division. | Photo: APP World Tour

The Inoue's performance at this 5th edition of the Gran Canaria Pro-Am is one for the record books: with one of the siblings present on every single podium except for the U21 Boys division (because Taka is over 21). The elder of the two sisters, Kaede, continues to assert herself as a dominant force on Tour, securing her 3rd consecutive World Title in the SUP Longboard division to add to her 2022 World Title in Performance SUP.

Having to settle for 3rd in the performance SUP division behind her younger sister, there was no way Kaede was going to let this title slip through her hands. With dominant performances from the outset, Kaede was able to reach and then dominate the final ahead of the young up and coming Spanish talent, Julieta Rodriguez who has had an excellent event.

Kaede's smooth transitions and linked together rides saw her consistently posting excellent scores and extremely high heat score totals, and the final was no different, as she put together two solid rides to secure the World Title for 2024. In 3rd equal was Camille Dubrana from France who put on a great performance throughout this final event and Kaede's younger sister and winner of the U21 World Title Sakura Inoue. 

Enrique Perez Serra takes victory in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria to secure the U21 World Championship Title for 2024. | Photo: APP World Tour

Junior Division

After a second place finish to Japan's Kapono Fukuda in 2023, Enrique Perez Serra arrived back in Las Palmas hungry for the World Title here at the Gran Canaria Pro-Am in 2024 and his surfing has been looking on point. But winning was never going to be an easy task, with a wealth of talent coming from all over the world, and in particular France.

After successfully making it through the rounds to reach the final over at EL Lloret, the venue was shifted to La Cicer for U21 Finals Day and Enrique was able to make the necessary adjustments in his surfing to be able to take a comfortable win and be crowned 2024 U21 World Champion. Enrique was followed by an on-form Kilian Burac in 2nd, Lucas Winder-Dreux in 3rd and Titouan Pajot in 4th, all from France.

Sakura Inoue continues her incredible form here in Gran Canaria to take the U21 World Championship Title for 2024. | Photo: APP World Tour

Sakura Inoue continues the Inoue family's incredible run here at the 2024 Gran Canaria Pro-Am by taking victory in the U21 division of the event, securing the U21 World Title for 2024. But it was not without a fight, as while she passed directly through to the Finals following a convincing win in the opening round, she came up against the 2022 World Champion and her Sister Kaede Inoue, the on-form Julieta Rodriguez and the young French talent Prune Guerin. Despite her smaller build, she was able to put on an impressive and critical performance in an exciting final heat to take a convincing victory ahead of her sister in 2nd, Julieta in 3rd and Prune in 4th. A big congratulations go out to all our U21 competitors.

A big congratulations go out to all our competitors for putting on a spectacular show throughout this event. Check out the highlights from today's action in the video below and go to appworldtour.com and @appworldtour for more from the event, the Tour, the 2025 season and the latest news and content from the APP World Tour.

Gran Canaria has once again delivered and the 5th edition of the Gran Canaria Pro-Am is now in the books. While we didn't see the pumping surf of previous years, we did see great conditions for the World's Best to provide a spectacular showcase of Stand Up Paddling at its very best.

From the high performance divisions of stand up paddling at El Lloret's righthand point break to the ideal SUP longboard conditions at La Cicer, the two venue approach allows the APP to showcase the diversity of the sport and highlight the island of Gran Canaria as a World Class destination for the sport. We are excited to continue this legacy as we build up to a 3 event schedule for 2024 to be announced shortly that will once again culminate in this prestigious World Championship Final here in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria at the end of the year.

A big thank you to all our partners for this year's Gran Canaria Pro-Am, from Turismo de Gran Canaria, Instituto Insular de deportes de Gran Canaria, Ayuntamiento de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria to Turismo de las Islas Canarias. Thank you also to Volkswagen, 7island Film, Poema del Mar, waterspeed app and Red Bull for their support and as always, our longtime event partner Dunkerbeck SUP.

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