Duna Gordillo & Shuri Araki Win APP Busan Open

Christian Andersen in the Sprints. | Photo courtesy: APP World Tour

BUSAN, Korea - Despite adverse weather predictions, it ended up being a beautiful weekend in Busan that saw spectacular racing from all divisions and stand out performances by the eventual victors.

Sprint Racing

With some fun surf on offer providing an exciting challenge for the entire field, the stage was set for a dynamic day of surf sprints, as athletes powered out through the shore-break and navigated the M Course to finish with a surf ride to the beach.

From the outset, the Danish powerhouse Christian Andersen looked dominant, calm and confidant: the fastest off the start and the most comfortable at navigating the surf legs to advance all the way through to the Finals. Once there, Christian put on his best performance of the day, taking a clear lead off the start in a stacked final that featured Shuri 'Shrimpy' Araki from Spain, Aaron Sanchez and Antonio Morillo, both from Spain. An impressive opening day for the young Dane who clearly has his sights set on what would be a well deserved and maiden event victory here on the APP World Tour.

In second place, Shrimpy is also looking strong, as he will look to take the lead on the distance day, followed by an ever impressive Antonio Morillo in 3rd and Aaron Sanchez in 4th.

Duna Gordillo, Sprints victor. | Photo courtesy: APP World Tour

For the women, Duna Gordillo came into the Busan SUP Open as the favorite and certainly did not disappoint in the sprint racing action, dominating from the very beginning to take a well deserved victory. With fierce competition from fellow compatriot Laura Quetglas, but also some of Japan's fastest ladies, Hirata Otono and Baba Natsumi and not forgetting the ever improving Su Jeong Lim who looks more comfortable than ever in her new home in Busan, Duna was able to maintain her composure and cross the line in first, continuing her winning streak on the APP World Tour.

However, it was exciting to see new faces step up to challenge the leading ladies and this weekend was a clear illustration that the storm of talent emerging from Japan's shores is a force to be reckoned with, with Hirata securing a close second place and Baba Natsumi in 3rd. It was then the local girl Su Jeong Lim who rounded out the final in 4th place.

Shuri 'Shrimp' Araki. | Photo courtesy: APP World Tour

Distance Race

After posting a solid 2nd place finish in the sprints on Saturday, the 18-year-old phenom from Okinawa, Shuri 'Shrimpy' Araki knew what he had to do on Day 2 - it was simple, just win. And that he did and then some.

Blasting off the stuff with what seemed like almost double the stroke cadence of anyone else, he separated from the pack almost immediately and consistently grew his lead through the 9km race to take an impressive victory. By the time he finished, he had built a full minute and a half lead on the rest of the pack which was led by the great Dane, Christian Andersen who finished in 2nd, with Aaron Sanchez from Mallorca rounding out the top 3.

While Shrimpy and Christian are therefore tied for points, the tiebreaker for this event was established as the distance, awarding the overall win to Shrimpy, while validating Christian's position as one of the very best and well rounded paddlers in the world. This Championship victory at the single flagship event for the 2024 season secures his #1 seed going into 2025, as Shrimpy will have a target on his back next year as the one to beat.

Duna wins again. | Photo courtesy: APP World Tour

For the women's race, Duna Gordillo fulfilled her headline position at the 2024 Busan SUP Open by taking victory in the distance race and overall for the Championship event. Leading off the start, she put together a smart race and maintained her lead throughout to take victory. However, the young Japanese talent, Baba Natsumi stayed with her the whole race to take an impressive 2nd place in her first ever APP World Tour event. In 3rd place was Hirata Otono from Japan, who wrapped a great weekend for the Japanese team in Busan. Given that Hirata and Baba both secured the same points with 2nds and 3rds across the two days, it was Baba who secured 2nd place overall with the distance tie breaker.

Like Shrimpy, Duna now goes into the 2025 season as #1 seed following this Championship win with the target on her back for the leading ladies on the APP World Tour.

This year's unique 9km course framed the beautiful bay in front of Gwangalli Beach and consisted of 6x 1.5km laps, providing plenty of entertainment for the assembled crowds and a constant flow of position changes within the athlete packs, particularly in the Men: here there was a battle for 2nd - 6th between Christian Andersen, Aaron Sanchez, Arthur Arutkin, Fernando Serra and Antonio Morillo with the lead in this pack constantly changing.

 Group shot. | Photo courtesy: APP World Tour

So that's a wrap from what was another incredible weekend of action in Busan. The APP's local partners KAPP once again put together a world class festival in celebration of this unique sport and lifestyle and continued to grow the platform for local athletes to step up and be counted on the world stage. The future looks bright for the sport in Korea, as we witnessed another impressive showing of U14 and U16 youth, all passionate about the sport and the Tour after 3 spectacular years of this Busan SUP Open.

A big thank you to all the partners of the 2024 Busan SUP Open, an event that has transformed the beachfront of Gwangalli into a stand up paddle epicenter. We are grateful for the phenomenal work by KAPP for delivering another great event and we look forward to what the future holds. The APP can't wait to get back to Korea in 2025 for an exciting new adventure as the country will remain a flagship stop of the Tour for the years to come. News on this stop and the announcement for the 2025 season is now scheduled to be made by the end of this month, so stay tuned to @appworldtour @kapp_korea and www.appworldtour.com.