New Zealand, France, and Australia take early lead after Copenhagen leg of event
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After a historic weekend of Distance and Sprint Racing in the Danish capital of Copenhagen, the 2017 ISA World SUP and Paddleboard Championship brings the best SUP and Paddleboard athletes in the world to Denmark’s rugged northwest known as Cold Hawaii from September 5-10.
The record-breaking 286 athletes from 42 countries travelled to the town of Vorupør, a haven for watersports in Denmark, to compete in the disciplines of SUP Surfing, Technical Race, and Team Relay Race. The Cold Hawaii leg of the competition will determine who will be crowned Team World Champion, the first ever crowned in the country.
Two days of action packed racing in Copenhagen over the weekend crowned six World Champions in the disciplines of SUP and Paddleboard Distance Race and SUP Sprint Race, most notably crowning the local standout and ISA Vice President, Casper Steinfath, the SUP Sprint Gold Medalist in his home country.
While six of the event’s thirteen Gold Medals have been awarded, over half of the medals are still up for grabs. New Zealand, France and Australia have respectively assumed the top three positions thus far, however with seven medals yet to be contested, the Team Gold Medal is still open for the taking.
The visiting National Delegations were greeted to a warm welcome in Vorupør on Monday evening with an official Ceremony celebrating the Championship coming to Cold Hawaii and the peaceful gathering of nations through SUP and Paddleboard.
Dignitaries in attendance at the Ceremony were ISA President, Fernando Aguerre, Chairman of Friends of Cold Hawaii, Finn Jorsal, Mayor of Thisted, Lene Kjelgaard, and Founder of Plastic Change, Henrik Beha Pedersen.
The Mayor of Thisted, Lene Kjelgaard, welcomed the visiting athletes:
“This is the first championship of its kind to take place in Europe it is set to break participation records. Nearly 300 athletes from over 40 countries will test their strengths against the waves of Cold Hawaii.
“I am proud to conclude that we succeeded in arranging this event in a quite untraditional cooperation between the nation’s capital, Copenhagen, and the fishing village of Vorupør on the coastline of Cold Hawaii. It’s commendable that the small village of Vorupør play such a major role in this event.
“Good luck to all athletes. I hope the weather and wave conditions will be excellent for the competition.”
ISA President, Fernando Aguerre, closed the Welcome Ceremony with a message for the hundreds of onlookers and athletes present.
“These last three days have really changed the landscape of watersports in Denmark. We enjoyed the three days in Copenhagen with amazing conditions and competition at the iconic Opera House.
“If you would have told me in 2012, the first year of this event, that we would have more than 500 team members and officials participating in this event, I wouldn’t have believed it. We went from 14 to 42 nations and yesterday the entire country was watching live on national television. The ISA has been leading this global growth and development of SUP.
“Together we can accomplish anything, and I call you all to join the ISA’s effort and help us push the sport of SUP into the Paris 2024 Olympics. This would be the ultimate accomplishment.”
The schedule for Tuesday’s competition will be the following, set to start at 10am CEST:
- 2 heats Women’s Paddleboard Technical Race Semifinal
- 2 heats Men’s Paddleboard Technical Race Semifinal
- 4 heats Women’s SUP Technical Race Semifinal
- 4 heats Men’s SUP Technical Race Semifinal
To see the heat lineups for the Technical Race Semifinals, click here.
The full schedule for the remainder of the event will be as follows:
- Vorupør
- September 5 – Technical Races Semifinals
- September 6-10 – SUP Surfing, Technical Races Finals, and Team Relay Race (schedule to be determined according to conditions)
- September 10 – Closing Ceremony
To view the full event schedule, click here.
The event will be streaming live September 1-10 on www.isaworlds.com.
