New ICF World Champions Crowned in Thailand

PATTAYA, Thailand - In its 4th installment, the ICF SUP World Championships have grown from just 145 athletes in 2019, to more than 1000 participants in Thailand this week. Pattaya marks the fourth ICF world titles, after successful competitions in Qingdao, Balaton in Hungary, and Gdynia in Poland. The ICF held an incredible weeklong event with the world's best standup paddle athletes flying in to Thailand to compete at the chance to be named world champion. 2023 saw some incredible action across all divisions and races and the event saw repeat victors and new champions crowned.

Sprint Races

Two years after he wrested the ICF SUP sprint world title crown off American Connor Baxter in Hungary for the first time, Noic Garioud was back on top of the podium again in Pattaya on Thursday, once again turning the tables on the American. Last year in Poland Garioud was unable to defend his crown, losing to Baxter, but on Thursday he showed he is back to his best after undergoing two operations on a troublesome knee, storming home over the 200 meter course to defeat Baxter, with Bulgaria’s Andrii Kraitor taking the bronze.

Noic, full of emotions. | Photo: ICF / Georgia Schofield

“I definitely wanted that title so bad, to be honest I don’t remember much of the final,” Garioud said. “My knee feels better, I can still feel it sometimes, but it’s good to be back on the podium and in first place for sure. I’m more relaxed now that I have my title, so I’ll definitely give it 100 percent for the distance and the technical races.”

American Seychelle Webster was making her ICF world titles debut in Thailand, after taking two years off from the sport for the birth of her first child. She won an ICF world cup gold in Florida earlier this year, and then carried that form into Thursday’s final. She said it was never certain she would return to top level racing after she took her break. “Yes, but there were moments, no,” she said. “But I know that this is my calling, this is where I am meant to be. This is what I can’t not do, this is where I feel exactly I have to be, paddling and sharing this sport and this life with the world. You don’t have much time to yourself, and definitely not to train, so I’m training less than I ever have and performing even better. So there’s something magical that happens when you become a mother. We’re really limitless, everyone is, and I think mothers tap into that.”

Seychelle, back and better than ever. | Photo: ICF / Georgia Schofield

Argentina’s Juliette Duhaime took the silver, and South Africa’s Tarryn King celebrated her return to the ICF world championships by grabbing the bronze.

Indonesia’s Arip Purnama made ICF SUP history, winning his country’s first ever world title at any level by taking out the junior men’s final. The 17-year-old started from lane one, took the lead early and defied running down to take an exciting victory. Greece picked up two gold medals, with Kyriaki Logotheti snatching a last-gasp victory in the women’s junior final, and Penny Tsaoutou taking the women’s 50 plus crown.

Germany’s Peter Weidert defended the men’s 50 plus world title he won last year, adding to the 40 plus title he already has in his keeping. He posted one of the most convincing wins of the day. In the men’s 40 plus final it was Slovakia’s Tomas Lelovits who was crowned champion. 

Men's distance race. | Photo: ICF / Georgia Schofield

Distance Race

24 hours after claiming back his men’s sprint crown, Noic Garioud won his first ever men’s long distance title. The paddler from New Caledonia has previously won both the sprint and the technical events at earlier world championships, and was thrilled to break through for his first distance crown at Jomtien Beach in Pattaya.

“I’ve been looking for this, my coach told me I could do it, but I didn’t really believe him because my thing was more sprinting,” Gerioud said. “I felt a bit sore to be honest, and after that race I’m going to be even sorer. The Japanese were pushing really hard so it wasn’t easy to sit in their draft, but I tried to rest as much as possible, even though they didn’t make it easy. And then the sprint at the end, this is what I know to do best, I just tried that and it worked out.”

Garioud, who also revealed after the race that his partner is expecting their first child, sat in third position during the 15 kilometer race behind the Japanese pairing of Shuri Araki and Rai Taguchi, before taking the lead in the final sprint to the beach.

The women’s race quickly developed into a race between four, but Spain's Esperanza Barreras spent most of the 15 kilometers leading the pack. As the group approached final buoy, the Spaniard broke away, leaving her teammate Duna Gordillo and American Kimberly Barnes in her wake.

“Being a world champion two times in a row, I’m really happy but I don’t quite believe it,” Barreras said. “I was trying to save some energy, but I felt good at the end and I trusted in all the work I had done to get here so I just pushed more and more. I wasn’t going to stop until I got to the finish line, and it worked for me.”

Barnes finished with the silver, with Gordillo third.

Women's distance race start. | Photo: ICF / Georgia Schofield

In junior races Vaic Garioud emulated the performance of his older brother by taking the men’s crown, defending the title he won in Poland last year. Japanese pair Shimazu Nariakira and Kotaro Miyahira filled the minor placings. In the women’s junior race 15-year-old Claudia Postiglione caused a minor boil over by out-sprinting her teammate and last year’s champion, Cecilia Pampinella, to take the gold. Hungary’s Csillag Kocsis finished third.

One day after winning his third consecutive men’s 50 plus sprint crown, Germany’s Peter Weidert was celebrating a long distance title. Weidert finished ahead of the Spain’s defending champion, Daniel Parres, with fellow Spaniard Marc Foraster third. The men’s 40 plus title went to Dutchman Joep Van Bakel, ahead of Greece’s Georgios Fragkos and Canada’s Tommy Buday. “Most of the time it is not a good thing to become 40, but sometimes it helps, my first world title so I’m really happy to have achieved this goal,” Van Bakel said.

It was a double celebration for the Dutch, with Petronella Van Maslen taking the gold in the women’s 40 plus ahead of Japan’s Takayo Yokoyama and Germany’s Susanne Lier. “I came here to take the gold in the distance so I’m really happy,” Van Maslen said. “I was a bit nervous last night, so I didn’t sleep very well. But when you start you know you can get it done.”

Great Britain’s Marie Buchanan won the women’s 50 plus, adding to the 40 plus title she won in Poland last year. Italy’s Anna Occhiogrosso finished second and Greece’s Penny Tsaoutou third. In the inflatable races Australia's Michael Booth defended the title he won 12 months earlier in the men, while in the women's competition the gold went to Korea's Su Jeong Lim.

Espe Barreras, coming in for the win. | Photo: ICF / Georgia Schofield

Technical Race

Spain’s Esperanza Barreras won her second world title of the week and American Connor Baxter successfully defended his 2022 technical crown as the International Canoe Federation Stand Up Paddling World Championships came to end in Pattaya, Thailand, on Sunday.

Barreras successfully defended her long distance title on Friday, and then timed her finish to perfection to add the women’s technical gold to her world championship-week collection. Barreras sat in second position behind defending champion Melanie Lafenetre of France, before making her move deep into the final lap.

“This was absolutely not on my plans, I came here more focussed on the distance race,” Barreras said. “But this morning I decided just to give it my all, this is my final race for the season. I went well with the temperature, and the wind, so I just pushed hard. In the race before I did all the mistakes that I had to do, so I decided not to do too many mistakes on this one. I felt good, I tried not to think too much about the conditions. I try to train in all conditions so I don’t have any surprises in the races, so I felt quite comfortable out there.”

Lafenetre held on for second, ahead of a fast-finishing Juliette Duhaime of Argentina.

Connor Baxter does it again. | Photo: ICF / Georgia Schofield

Connor Baxter came to Pattaya determined to defend both his sprint and technical gold medals, but after being beaten by Frenchman Noic Garioud in the sprint, turned his focus to the one kilometer technical race.

“When Noic edged me out, and I barely got to second, it was a little bittersweet, but it really fired me up,” Baxter said. “When I came into this race I had one thing on my mind, and that was to go for gold. This kind of racing is my bread and jelly, this is what I love. This is technical, this really showcases stand up paddling. We know how to go straight, yes, but we also know how to turn, how to run with our boards, beach start – this is what it’s all about, and to defend that in a fashionable manner, and holding that lead from the start to the finish, that was my goal, and I did it.”

The race opened up for Baxter when Garioud, who was chasing his third title for the week, fell during a frenetic start. A group of three then came together to chase Baxter to the finish, with Peru’s Itzel Delgado eventually taking silver and Spain’s Antonio Morillo the bronze.

In other technical finals, Italy’s Claudia Postiglione won her second junior title of the week by taking out the women’s junior race, while Spain’s Sergio Cantoral successfully defended his men’s junior crown. In the women’s 40-plus division Dutch paddler Petronella Van Malsen also picked up her second gold of the week, to add to the long distance crown she won on Friday, while Japan’s Ryohei Yoshida gave a brave front-running display to take the men’s 40-plus.

Photo: ICF / Georgia Schofield

Marie Buchanan was another athlete to finish the week with two world titles. On Sunday the British paddler added the technical gold to the long distance crown she won on Friday in the women’s 50-plus. In the men’s 50-plus, Spaniard Daniel Parres ended the triple-crown hopes of German Peter Weidert, successfully defending the technical gold he won in Poland last year. 

Results:

RESULTS - SPRINT

WOMEN’S OPEN

1. WEBSTER Seychelle (USA)
2. DUHAIME Juliette (ARG)
3. KING Tarryn (RSA)

MEN’S OPEN

1. GARIOUD Noic (FRA)
2. BAXTER Connor (USA)
3. KRAYTOR Andrii (BUL)

WOMEN’S JUNIOR

1. LOGOTHETI Kyriaki (GRE)
2. PAMPINELLA Cecilia (ITA)
3. PINTERIC Naja (SLO)

MEN’S JUNIOR

1. PURNAMA Arip (INA)
2. GARIOUD Vaic (FRA)
3. VOULGARIS Andreas (GRE) 

RESULTS – LONG DISTANCE

OPEN MEN

1. GARIOUD Noic (FRA) 01:29:36.17
2. ARAKI Shuri (JPN) 01:29:36.83
3. TAGUCHI Rai (JPN) 01:29:38.37

OPEN WOMEN

1. BARRERAS Esperanza (ESP) 01:43:44.57
2. BARNES Kimberly (USA) 01:43:58.26
3. GORDILLO Duna (ESP) 01:44:06.68

JUNIOR MEN

1. GARIOUD Vaic (FRA) 01:02:02.63
2. NARIAKIRA Shimazu (JPN) 01:02:38.68
3. MIYAHIRA Kotaro (JPN) 01:03:37.14

JUNIOR WOMEN

1. POSTIGLIONE Claudia (ITA) 01:12:25.61
2. PAMPINELLA Cecilia (ITA) 01:12:29.42
3. KOCSIS Csillag (HUN) 01:12:31.62 

RESULTS - TECHNICAL RACES

MEN

1. BAXTER Connor (USA) 5:57.82
2. DELGADO Itzel (PER) 6:01.11
3. MORILLO Antonio (ESP) 6:02.05

WOMEN

1. BARRERAS Esperanza (ESP) 6:45.96
2. LAFENETRE Melanie (FRA) 6:49.11
3. DUHAIME Juliette (ARG) 6:49.38

JUNIOR MEN

1. CANTORAL Sergio (ESP) 6:21.04
2. GARIOUD Vaic (FRA) 6:29.28
3. NARIAKIRA Shimazu (JPN) 6:32.68

JUNIOR WOMEN

1. POSTIGLIONE Claudia (ITA) 7:08.36
2. KOCSIS Csillag (HUN) 7:16.84
3. DAVIS Rosara (NZL) 7:23.93

For more results and news on the 2023 ICF SUP Championships, click HERE.