This week's news episode of Paddlecast aired LIVE on YouTube and Facebook.

Sebastian Szubski is in the final few days of his circumnavigation of Britain, and he could either beat the 40 day record by several days or it could come down to the wire. It all depends on the next 48 hours. Billy and Betsy give their analysis and predictions on when he'll finish. And you can make your own prediction to enter for prizes.Paddlers are just finishing the Yukon 1000 in the wilderness of Canada and Alaska. And more...*This episode aired live last week (16th July) but was late being published due to delays from the editor (Betsy) going to Scotland to see Sebastian Szubski set a new world record.

As Sebastian Szubski rounded Land’s End this week, Billy finally became convinced that the 40 day record was going to fall. It’s been as tight as anything between Sebastian’s progress and Dougal’s 40 day record up to this point, but there shouldn’t be much left that can stop Sebastian now.

The biggest moment of Sebastian’s progress last week was his 100km+ crossing of Lyme Bay. Billy and Betsy were dot-watching (along with many others) when Sebastian went out of GPS range moving only 2mph. Thankfully, he came back online a short while later, but with a mysterious zig-zag to his track… Betsy shares Sebastian’s personal account of exactly what happened during the crossing, and the context for why.

The action was tight at the Berg River Marathon, with legend Hank McGregor winning his 14th title, but Hank wasn’t the only legend on the course… And in the women’s race, an unfortunate spill early on Day 2 turned into a shock 8 minute lead – this lucky mistake seems to have determined the outcome of 1st and 2nd between Jenna Nisbett / Nix Birkett at the epic 4 day ultra marathon race in South Africa.

In Romania, it was Hungary who came away with the most medals. No surprise there. But there were a few surprising results. Young GB athletes Freddie Heard / Ollie Mazur talk about the event and their K4 race in their own words on Paddlecast.

The winner of the Korea APP SUP race was no surprise (the reigning king himself, Shuri “Shrimpy” Araki) but the course had some unusual twists that gave this speed demon more of a challenge.

In Spain, more than thirty K4s from local clubs and top European national teams gathered to race amongst beautiful scenery. And a particularly strong GB men’s crew made it onto the podium in Valladolid. Joe Petersen, from that podium crew, shares more about the event and his team’s racing in his own words.

This week, the only race to make the Yukon River Quest look short has just started: The Yukon 1000. A hybrid between classic ultra paddling racing and ‘do you know how to bear-bag and staunch a wound in the wilderness’ type adventure race, the event has attracted a wide variety of entrants this year including a pro MMA fighter, a surfer, a rower, a mountaineer, a paracanoe athlete, and more.

This episode includes visuals, but is audio-first unlike previous episodes which have included full video – love it? Hate it? Neutral? Leave a comment or send a message with your thoughts.

1:20 Sebastian Szubski’s Round Britain Record Attempt

17:57 Berg River Marathon Recap

23:59 Junior & U23 European Sprint Championships Recap

In their own words: Freddie Heard / Ollie Mazur on their K4 5th place race

34:15 Korea APP SUP Race Recap

37:08 K4 Marathon Racing in Valladolid & Sanabria: Recap

In his own words: Joe Petersen, 3rd place in Valladolid

42:37 Yukon 1000 Preview

*Correction – Craig and Scott completed this race on SUP in 2023, not 2024

47:57 The Warm Down: Sebastian Brendel’s retirement, and Avon Descent (Australia) river levels

Useful links:

Sebastian’s tracker: https://eur-share.explore.garmin.com/sebakayak 

Sebastian’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sebasz81/ 

Berg River Canoe Marathon: https://www.facebook.com/BergRiverCanoeMarathon

Yukon 1000 documentary film: https://www.yukon1000documentary.com/ 

Yukon 1000 race tracker: https://www.yukon1000.org/2025-race-tracker/ 

Sebastian Brendel / Isaquias Queiroz tribute post: https://www.instagram.com/p/DLv0-xcNiQr/

Sebastian Szubski has passed the halfway mark on his circumnavigation of Britain, and he’s neck and neck with Dougal Glaisher’s 2023 record of 40 days. He’s ticking off the kilometres like he eats them for breakfast. For any day where he faces a slowdown due to weather, he makes up for it with two 100km+ days. 12-14 hour days in the boat are standard fare for Sebastian these days, with his longest day so far clocking in at 16 hours 33 minutes on the water.Betsy managed to see Sebastian in person when he stopped in Brighton on Monday night, and he said he’s feeling strong both physically and mentally. His biggest challenge (aside from weather) has been getting enough calories. With an impressive amount of muscle mass and so many hours on the water each day, he has to eat a lot to keep on top of his energy levels, which isn’t always easy.Despite having only 9 months of experience in the surfski, Sebastian has been completing major open ocean crossings with no issues. He’s making 80-100km+ crossings look like any other day out paddling. In SUP, the rising stars from Namur’s EuroTour event were the Dutch junior racers who were mixing it up with the seniors for the 11km distance race. Benyam Bossack, Selwyn Pritchard, and Mylo van Bakel finished impressively close to the overall men’s race winner and 2025 seasonal stand-out, Donato Freens, also from the Netherlands. These boys are only 12 - 16 years old, and definitely young paddlers to watch. In the women’s race, the 14 year old Marin Hoeber had even more success in her senior race. Earning another gold for the Netherlands, the young Hoeber won the women’s race ahead of several speedy senior women. Another one to watch.Shoreham hosted a successful UK Surfski Nationals which also included outrigger canoes (OC6’s). It was the most competitive surfski race in the UK this season, with top talent in both the men’s and women’s field. In the para race, Jon White may have been the only entry but he was closing in on some quick marathon paddlers – could he be paving the way for more surfski paracanoe racing? Rosie Edwards won the women’s race by 5 minutes, despite facing a strong competitor in 2nd place, Brynde Kreft. Rosie spoke with Paddlecast about how her race went, and her upcoming plans in the lead-up to Durban Worlds.The 440 mile (700+ km) Yukon River Quest ended early due to wildfires, but racers were pleased to still be able to race 300km to Carmacks. Green Machine, in the voyageur class (C6), won the overall race but with the elite C2 crew of Mike Schlimmer / Steve Landick very close behind. Thor Harley from Team “Green Machine” told Paddlecast about how their team came together and how the race played out in his own words.In Pitesti, Romania, racing is underway for the Junior & U23 European Sprint Championships where several GB paddlers may have good chances to medal. Look out for familiar names from the recent European marathon championships (junior / U23 / senior) and European sprint championships (senior).00:51 Sebastian Szubski’s record attempt for fastest GB circumnavigation by kayak13:07 SUP race recaps for Namur (Euro Tour), Graz River Days (SUP Alps Trophy), and O2Y (Okinawa to Yoron)20:35 UK Surfski Nationals (Spiritfilled Coastal Cup Challenge in Shoreham)31:28 In her own words: women’s winner Rosie Edwards’ race recap34:13 Yukon River Quest race recap36:48 In his own words: Thor Harley from the overall winners in C6 (Voyageur), “Green Machine”48:29 Race Preview: European Junior Sprint Championships53:34 Race Preview: Under 23 European Championships in Solkan, Slovenia54:27 The Warm Down - DW opens to SUPs and surfskis; Walter Bouzan (ESP) is defying ageing; crazy waves at the Danish National Marathon Championships*Note - there are several moments in this episode where Betsy’s video goes blurry due to technical issues. This episode almost didn’t make it to air after some major technical issues, so thank you for your patience!

Last weekend, new European champions were crowned at the Sprint Canoe & Paracanoe European Championships in Racice. Conditions were hot and flat, and many paddlers were rewarded with new European Best Times.Some results were to be expected (Dorota Borowska of Poland successfully defended her C1 200m title from 2024; Gabriele Casadei / Carlo Tacchini of Italy won the men’s C2 500m; Anna Pulawska / Martyna Klatt of Poland won the women’s K2 500m) while others were unexpected…

Unexpected stand outs from Racice included the Portuguese men’s K4 (Gustavo Goncalves / Joao Ribeiro / Messias Baptista / Pedro Casinha), Martin Nathell(SWE), Zsoka Csikos (HUN), and the young rising stars of Alex Graneri (ESP), Lucrezia Zironi (ITA), and Viktoriia Yarchevska (ESP).

Fernando Pimenta made an incredible comeback just two weeks after winning two gold medals at European Marathon Championships in Ponte de Lima, Portugal, and after a couple of off-the-podium finishes at the Olympics and Szeged World Cup. He’s on such a career high right now that he even earned a comparison to Dutch runner Sifan Hassan…

After wrapping up the Sprint Euros review with some joyous celebration at the return of “normal” 5kms and the excitement of the less traditional mixed C4 race, Betsy and Billy move onto share updates on how Sebastian Szubski is progressing on his attempt to break the record for fastest circumnavigation of Britain by kayak.1

2 days in, Sebastian’s numbers are more easily comparable with Dougal’s (Dougal Glaisher, current holder of the record at 40 days) and it’s looking increasingly likely that Sebastian could break the record.

There’s two SUPdates this week on the last couple EuroTour events in Germany and Belgium (Nordhausen & Namur), as well as the largest paddling fundraiser in the world: Crossing for CF.

A preview of the top contenders at Berg River Marathon in South Africa, where the women’s field is looking exceptionally open and competitive while Hank McGregor aims for his 14th win in the men’s field.

Looking at the legendary Yukon River Quest that starts on the day of publication.

And lastly, a quick “warm down” on a few extra tidbits including a discussion on optimal blade size, the new “Apex” marathon kayak, and Erika Jaand’s accomplishment of becoming the first woman to solo kayak the Rhine River.

If you enjoyed the episode, please leave a comment and subscribe for more.

01:12 Sprint Canoe European Championships race recap

28:49 Sebastian Szubski’s circumnavigation of Britain

37:05 Nordhausen SUP Race recap & Namur preview (Euro Tour SUP)

42:57 Crossing for CF (Cystic Fibrosis) race recap

45:38 Berg River Marathon (SA) race preview

49:19 Yukon River Quest preview

52:34 “The Warm Down” other tidbits of news

#racerecap #paddlingpodcast #fernandopimenta #sprintkayak #sprintcanoe #olympics #la2028 #yukonriverrace #standuppaddleboarding #supracer #surfskikayak #guinnessrecordattempt #kayakingaroundbritain #ultrapaddling #ultrapaddleracing #sebakayak #eurotoursup

If you enjoyed the episode, please subscribe to Paddlecast and leave a review. If Paddlecast isn’t enough paddling chat for you, you can also follow:

http://instagram.com/billylikeskayaking

instagram.com/paddledaily

https://paddledaily.com

https://www.instagram.com/supracer

https://supracer.com

Useful Links:

Watch the Sprint Euros on the Olympics Channel: https://www.olympics.com/en/sport-events/2025-eca-canoe-sprint-paracanoe-european-championships-racice/replays

Sebastian Szubski’s GPS tracker: https://eur-share.explore.garmin.com/sebakayak

Yukon River Quest GPS tracker: https://www.yukonriverquest.com/yrq-race-tracker-2025/

Craig Sawyer’s Yukon 1000 documentary: https://www.yukon1000documentary.com/

Paolo Marconi is one of the “original” stand up paddleboard racers. The first year he raced internationally, 2011, was the year that SUP Racer was founded. That’s fourteen years of top level SUP racing. So when it comes to talking about what it means to be a stand up paddleboard racer, there’s not many who can compete with Paolo.

But in “Racing the Quit Monkey”, Paolo shares a journey that has been about much more than racing.

In his new book, Paolo details his childhood growing up on the sea and exploring the Italian coast, how he found stand up paddleboarding and eventually racing, meeting the love of his life Susak Molinero (also a SUP racer), becoming an elite racer, discovering ultra running and ultra paddling… And how his “quit monkey” has followed him throughout this journey.

Paolo joins Paddlecast to talk about why he wrote “Racing the Quit Monkey”, how his relationship with the “quit monkey” has changed, how he approaches motivation during hard training sessions versus elite races, his 2025 season so far, and what’s next.

In this conversation on Paddlecast, Paolo offers up insights about his own life that double as practical tips for paddlers of all stripes (and even non-paddlers) on mental fortitude.Please enjoy the discussion.

02:07 Why Paolo decided to write the book & why writing is so important to him

08:39 What is the “Quit Monkey” and where does it come from?

15:50 Strategies to manage the “quit monkey”

17:52 Motivation during hard training sessions

21:08 Motivation during races

23:22 Why Salivoli?29:36 Paolo’s 2025 season so far33:43 Upcoming plans

35:26 What athletes and books inspire Paolo?

#standuppaddleboarding #supracer #ultrapaddling #ultrapaddleracing #eurotoursup #motivation #ultrarunning #racingthequitmonkey #mondaymotivation #weekendwarrior #davidgoggins

If you enjoyed the episode, please subscribe to Paddlecast and leave a review. If Paddlecast isn’t enough paddling chat for you, you can also follow:

http://instagram.com/billylikeskayaking instagram.com/paddledaily

https://paddledaily.com

https://www.instagram.com/supracer https://supracer.com

Useful Links:

Preview “Racing the Quit Monkey”: https://supracer.com/racing-the-quit-monkey-paolo-marconis/

Paolo’s website & SUP Salivoli newsletter: https://ing.supsalivoli.com/racing-the-quit-monkey

Buy the book: https://store.youcanprint.it/racing-the-quit-monkey/b/711cfe1e-2d96-5ce3-a9a0-7016f508443b

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com.au/Racing-Quit-Monkey-endurance-journey/dp/B0F4TC5QJX/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0

eBay: https://www.ebay.ca/itm/396584251840

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/racing-the-quit-monkey-paolo-marconi/1147350260

This week’s news starts with an update on how Sebastian Szubski is doing 5 days into his attempt to break the record for fastest circumnavigation of Britain by kayak. As Betsy and Billy were recording, Sebastian was out on the water for a 105 kilometre crossing of the Moray Firth from Wick to Fraserburgh.

Not only does this crossing give him a huge boost in time and distance on the circumnavigation, it is, on its own, the longest known open water crossing by surfski without an escort boat.

Sebastian’s approach is informed by the experiences of those who’ve come before him, including significant advice from Mike Lambert who completed his circumnavigation in 58 days last year. His mileage so far is incredibly ambitious and impressive, but precisely where it needs to be to beat the current record of 40 days as set by Dougal Glaisher in 2023. 

Sebastian was able to film a video for Paddlecast and Paddle Daily on his rest day, and talk about how the paddling compares to his expectations, the hardest part so far, and his goals.

On the race calendar, last weekend was marathon national championships in South Africa featuring some of the best names in the world including Hamish Lovemore, Andy Birkett, Hank Mcgregor, Uli Hart, Nick Notten, Jade Wilson, and more. The video version of this episode features footage from a couple of the races, including an incredibly tight sprint finish in the men’s K2 race where Hank Mcgregor looks like he’s got his strategy hat on…

There were three different major ultra paddling races last weekend including the Texas Water Safari (USA), Loire 725 (France), and Eliminator (UK). Annette Baum and Linda Tetsmann join Paddlecast briefly to talk about their experience on the Loire 725, what made it different from the many other ultra races they’ve done, why they did it in a canoe instead of a kayak, and what’s next for them (spoiler: it’s the Yukon 2000).

Betsy and Billy wrap things up with quick previews of the next stop on the EuroTour, the Nordhausen SUP race, and the European Championships for Sprint Canoe/Kayak in Racice this week/weekend.

01:19 Sebastian Szubski’s Round Britain Circumnavigation Record Attempt

12:53 Interview with Sebastian

23:34 South African Marathon National Championships Recap

27:56 Ultra Paddling Recaps: Texas Water Safari

33:38 Ultra Paddling Recaps: Loire 725

37:19 Interview with Team Tetsmann-Baum about Loire 725

43:35 Ultra Paddling Recaps: The Eliminator

46:17 USA SUP & Surf National Championships Recap

50:04 Nordhausen EuroTour SUP Preview

25:01 European Sprint Canoe Championships in Racice Czechia

#standuppaddleboarding #supracer #icfmarathon #marathoncanoe #marathonkayak #worldchampionships #racerecap  #surfskikayak #guinnessrecordattempt #kayakingaroundbritain #gbsup #theeliminator #ultrapaddling #ultrapaddleracing #sebakayak #texaswatersafari #loire725 #teamtetsmannbaum #usasup #eurotoursup #sprintkayak #sprintcanoe

If you enjoyed the episode, please subscribe to Paddlecast and leave a review. If Paddlecast isn’t enough paddling chat for you, you can also follow:

http://instagram.com/billylikeskayaking 

instagram.com/paddledaily

https://paddledaily.com

https://www.instagram.com/supracer 

https://supracer.com

*Since apologies for the audio issues in this episode.

Useful Links:

Sebastian Szubski’s GPS tracker: https://eur-share.explore.garmin.com/sebakayak

Sebastian’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sebasz81/

USA SUP Nationals footage / Soryn’s broken board: https://www.instagram.com/p/DK5tdQrv4AY/?img_index=1

Starting with last week and weekend’s European Marathon Canoe Championships in Ponte de Lima, Portugal, Billy and Betsy review the best of the racing. They answer the questions:

→ Which races were the most competitive?

→ Which races were the best to watch?

→ Who out-performed their expectations?

→ Which athletes should you be watching for podium potential going into the World Games and World Championships?

New European champions were crowned, new rivalries developed, and new stars began to rise. 

After diving deep into analysis of the marathon canoe and kayak racing, Billy and Betsy move onto last weekend’s wildwater racing. The two biggest stand-outs in Mazzana, Italy were Cecilia Panato and Simon Oven. Conditions were hugely challenging and technical particularly for Team GB paddlers who train on very different waters.

After 5-6 weekends of back-to-back major international races, most pro SUP racers headed back home to smaller events including national championships and qualifying races. Betsy was in Falmouth Bay to report on the Great Britain National Champs for stand up paddleboarding that also doubled as team trials. Betsy and Billy review the most exciting action, race results, and what’s next for these paddlers, and answer the questions:

→ Who will go to the world championships later this year? How are the paddlers thinking about ICF Worlds in Abu Dhabi versus ISA Worlds (TBA)?

→ Who came out on top in the long distance, sprint, and technical races? And which paddlers were missing from the racing?

→ Which races were the closest, and what were the strengths of the two closest competitors?

→ Which paddlers are on the rise, and potential future champions to keep your eye on?

The Eliminator is a brand new race format from the diabolical American Greg Wingo and the high-energy Brit Cassie Salter. Similar to Greg’s notorious “Last Paddler Standing” backyard ultra, The Eliminator is a “loops ‘til you drop” style format. But with a few major twists. Instead of racing solo, you race in a team of two with each paddler alternating one lap every 30 minutes. And partway through the 12 hour time-capped event, the last team on the water at the end of each lap will be eliminated. Whoever wins the 24th lap, wins the race. Follow the first ever edition of this innovative race format via SUP Racer on Instagram, Facebook, and supracer.com.

00:01:18 European Marathon Canoe Championships Recap

00:28:51 European Wildwater Championships Recap

00:33:31 GB SUP National Championships / Falmouth Bay Open Recap

00:47:22 The Eliminator

00:51:13 Loire 725

00:52:08 Round Britain Record Attempt

#standuppaddleboarding #supracer #icfmarathon #marathoncanoe #marathonkayak #worldchampionships #racerecap #wildwaterracing #surfskikayak #guinnessrecordattempt #kayakingaroundbritain #gbsup

If you enjoyed the episode, please subscribe to Paddlecast and leave a review. If Paddlecast isn’t enough paddling chat for you, you can also follow:

http://instagram.com/billylikeskayaking 

instagram.com/paddledaily

https://paddledaily.com

https://www.instagram.com/supracer 

https://supracer.com

Useful Links:

Canoe Europe YouTube page with all the marathon canoe European championship races: https://www.youtube.com/@CanoeEurope 

Tanja Ecker’s video of the Loire 725: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sB7fFmcwJQE&t=2s

Follow Sebastian Szubski’s Kayak Around Britain Record Attempt: https://www.instagram.com/sebasz81/

This weekend is stacked with two European paddling championships: Marathon Canoe Racing in Ponte de Lima Portugal, and Wildwater Canoe Racing in Mazzana Italy. So there’s a lot to talk about.

The level of competition at the European marathon champs will rival that of the upcoming World Games later this year, and will feature some of the biggest names and rivalries in the sport. Several of the podium athletes from the recent sprint world cups will be racing including Jon Vold and Joakim Lindberg. The Portuguese legend Fernando Pimenta, on home turf, will race in K2 with one of his greatest partners and rivals Jose Ramalho, as well as in the K1 for only the short course race.

In women’s K1, are we seeing the era of Hungarian Vanda Kiszli being turned into the era of Swede Melina Andersson? At last year’s marathon world championships, the two kayakers broke away from a very competitive pack to fight each other for the win. Kiszli had the better position with Andersson pushed into the bank, but in the last minute of the race Andersson found new strength to push past Kiszli for a clear win. Andersson has been on a streak with short course wins, but whether she’ll be able to beat out Kiszli in the long course again will be one of the biggest questions of the weekend.

At Lake Rocks, Dutchman Donato Freens extended his impressive spring season to win both the long distance and technical races. Boothy wasn’t able to challenge him in long distance the way he did in 2024, but it was the dark horse Normen Weber from Germany who stuck with Donato almost until the end when Donato put on the afterburners and left Weber behind. 16 year old Benyam Bossack was another stand-out of the weekend, as the young paddler from Germany and the Netherlands managed to stay with the chase pack during the long distance race and earn prize money with his 3rd place finish in the senior men’s technical race.

The Queen of Long Distance Esperanza Barreras came in as the favourite and was looking to retain her title from 2024, but faced impressively fierce competition from Csillag Kocsis. The 18 year old Hungarian is coming off a nasty bout of pneumonia that kept her away from the biggest races in Spain, and seems to have made a shockingly smooth transition from junior to senior racing where she is already challenging the best in the world. Csillag stuck with Espe stroke for stroke throughout the entire long distance race until the very end, where she tried to make a move only for Espe to make a better move and take the win. In the technical race the next day though, Csillag managed to take the win where Espe came second. Keep your eye on Csillag later this year as she could be a seriously disruptive force in the senior women’s racing!

In Mazzana, the athletes are watching water levels closely since they started rising over the last couple of days to reach monstrous heights. Keep your eye on GB athlete Kerry Christie, who’s already agreed to talk to Paddlecast after her racing this weekend…

01:31 Race preview: European Marathon Canoe Racing Championships including men’s and women’s racing, K1s and K2s, canoes, and paracanoe

20:07 Race recap: Lake Rocks SUP Festival by Paddelstadt stand up paddleboard racing

36:12 Race preview: 2025 ECA Wildwater Canoeing European Championships

41:19 Kurt Adams Roozentals ‘I’m being forced to choose between Olympics and OnlyFans’

If you enjoyed the episode, please subscribe to Paddlecast and leave a review. If Paddlecast isn’t enough paddling chat for you, you can also follow:

http://instagram.com/billylikeskayaking 

instagram.com/paddledaily

https://paddledaily.com

https://www.instagram.com/supracer 

https://supracer.com

Links

Lake Rocks by the Numbers: https://standupmagazin.com/en/2025/06/the-lake-rocks-by-the-numbers/ 

Kurt Adams Roozentals “'I'm being forced to choose between Olympics and OnlyFans'” on BBC Sport https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rowing/articles/c0715154kmeo

The attendance may have been low at this year’s surfski Molokai (Kaiwi Channel Crossing), but the speeds were high. Danielle Mackenzie Richards of New Zealand broke the women’s record, and local paddler Pat Dolan fought an incredibly close race with four-time Molokai winner Cory Hill (AUS) to break the men’s race record.

At the Canoe Sprint World Cup in Poznan, several athletes who’ve previously focussed more on crew boats have found a chance to shine, including women’s kayakers Anna Pulawska (POL) and Natalia Drobot (AUS) as well as men’s canoeist Gabriele Casadei (ITA).

Excellent as expected performances included Aimee Fisher (NZL), Zsoka Csikos (HUN), Nan Wang (CHN), Balint Kopasz (HUN), Josef Dostal (CZE), Jakob Thordsen (GER), and Agustin Vernice (ARG).

In women’s canoe, Katie Vincent (CAN) redeemed her fourth place 200m finish in Szeged when she won gold medals in both the 500m and 200m races. Ukrainian paddler Liudmyla Luzan hadn’t raced in Szeged, but showed that she’s still on top with a silver medal in the 500m. It was Luzan’s teammate Iryna Fedoriv (UKR) who took the silver medal in the 200m race, in dramatic style.Looking at the 5km races, Billy fanboys over men’s race winner Mads Brandt Pedersen (DEN). Hungarian Zsoka Csikos continued her season of stunners with a win in the 5km women’s race. Team GB outperformed themselves with silver and bronze medals for C1 paddler Beth Gill and K1 paddler Emma Russell, respectively.

As exciting as these races to watch, many of the top names seem to have started to avoid them, and experienced paddlers are left wondering whether the portages have been added to sprint races just for Planet Canoe to get viral video views. The 5km at the end of a tough weekend of racing used to feel like a treat for athletes, but now it seems like they’re more of a punishment.

Paracanoe athletes, including many 2024 Olympians, faced off for the first time since Paris. After a quick review of paracanoe technology (K versus V, and L1/L2/L3), Betsy and Billy dive into the results where Team GB once again led the medal count. Some Olympic results were flipped around, including in the men’s VL2 and women’s VL3 races, SUP is just wrapping up 6 weekends of back-to-back racing. In Barcelona, Mariecarmen Rivera from Puerto Rico finally beat Esperanza Barreras of Spain in a long distance race, but it wasn’t how anyone expected it to happen. Highlights of the racing also included Alba Frey’s strategic risks with lines, and the dogfight behind Shuri Araki “Shrimpy” in the men’s field, as well as the technical race win on Sunday from up-and-comer 15 year old Sveva Sabato of Italy.

Looking ahead to next weekend, the big event is the Lake Rocks Festival in Austria. On the men’s side, it could be a race between Donato Freens (NED) and Michael Booth “Boothy” (AUS) with some particularly strong racing in the men’s age categories (Peter Weidert, Joep van Bakel, and Gabor Szabo are top contenders), and hopefully a tight distance race between Csillag Kocsis (HUN) and Espe Barreras (ESP).

00:27 Molokai Results & Records

06:22 Sprint Canoe World Cup #2 in Poznan, Poland

14:07 Poznan’s 5km Races20:36 Paracanoe Races in Poznan

25:47 Marathon kayak races from South Africa, the Eastern and Western Cape marathon champs

27:21 Barcelona World SUP Fest

35:54 Lake Rocks Festival Austria preview

#standuppaddleboard #supracer #barcelona #sprintcanoe #sprintkayak #poznanworldcup2025 #molokaisurfski #planetcanoe #paddlesouthafrica #paddleuk #teamgb #paracanoe #paralympicsIf you enjoyed the episode, please subscribe to Paddlecast and leave a review.

If Paddlecast isn’t enough paddling chat for you, you can also follow:

http://instagram.com/billylikeskayaking instagram.com/paddledailyhttps://paddledaily.comhttps://www.instagram.com/supracer https://supracer.com

Kira Bester is on fire. After winning the Surfski World Championships in Madeira in 2024, she’s gone on to win every major race of 2025 so far: South African national championships, Freedom Paddle, and Eurochallenge. And she’s only 23.

On Paddlecast, Kira shares exactly what it’s like to train at a world champion level, her current goals (including a potential Olympic campaign!), which of her paddling disciplines is her favourite (you could probably guess this), and candid perspectives on sprint paddling, coaching, and her biggest competitors.

Kira may already have her first world title, but from how things are going for her, it’s unlikely to be her last… Just how ambitiously can this young paddler set her goals and keep achieving them? Kira is determined to find out.

02:30 Kira’s journey into paddling

06:10 How Kira balances surfski kayaking with sprint kayak, marathon kayak, descent racing; her goals for each, and which sport is her favourite

13:50 Tips for swapping between K1 and surfski

15:13 Kira’s Olympic plans (and the importance of big biceps)

21:10 What makes the South African surfski scene so good? Kira talks Orka Squad and what it’s like to train all the time with so many world champions including Kenny Rice and Nicky Notten

26:37 Who are Kira’s idols?

28:47 Kira’s biggest competition in her mission to retain her world champion title in 2025: Danielle Mckenzie Richards, Jemma Smith, Michelle Burn, Ana Swetish, and up-and-coming junior paddlers (previewing world championships 2025 in Durban)

31:44 Maintaining form over the winter (southern hemisphere winter), and the risk of not having another big race before world championships in October

33:51 Kira’s coaching clinics & the coaching culture in surfski (or lack thereof)

36:17 Thanks, and a surprise meeting of Kira’s coach Pete

38:13 Billy and Betsy debrief

#surfskikayak #surfski #sprintkayak #worldchampion #la2028 #kirabester

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