Paddlecast

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

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:

instagram.com/paddledaily

https://paddledaily.com

https://www.instagram.com/supracer 

https://supracer.com

http://instagram.com/billylikeskayaking 

Sprint paddling content creator and influencer Philip Bryde joins Paddlecast to talk about his viral video calling out the ICF for paywalling their live streams. Last weekend, paddling fans from around the world searched for how to watch the first Sprint Canoe World Cup of the year live and found that they’d have to pay £9.99 for a channel membership on YouTube. This has been a hot issue in the paddling community for several years since the ICF first introduced paywalls with “Recast”, a sports broadcasting platform that eventually went bankrupt at which point Planet Canoe moved to paid YouTube memberships.

Billy and Betsy share their own perspectives on the paywall, consider the pros and cons with Philip, and offer a few specific ideas for how the ICF could improve their approach. With the paddling season ramping up, this hot topic is reaching ever higher temperatures. Even multi time Olympians and medalists Fernando Pimenta and Marcus Cooper Waltz have expressed their views in Philip’s comments section…

How do you feel about the live stream paywall? Let’s continue the conversation, leave your thoughts in the comments below.

00:20 Introduction to Philip and the issue at hand

02:21 Billy's perspective

06:39 The ICF has been posting race videos for free after the fact, but how much of a difference does it make to watch live?

07:48 How does the paywall affect the ability to reach new fans?

11:44 Possible alternatives to a paywall, and input from Fernando Pimenta and Marcus Cooper Waltz

15:52 How much is the ICF making off these memberships, and where is the money going?

17:04 What about prize money? The SUP athletes earn prize money from ICF events, but not the canoe and kayak athletes which only amplifies frustration with the paywall.

18:56 Wrapping it up, and Philip’s one highlight from the Szeged World Cup #1

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:

instagram.com/paddledaily

https://paddledaily.com

https://www.instagram.com/supracer 

https://supracer.com

http://instagram.com/billylikeskayaking 

And here’s a few links we referenced in the show…

Philip's Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/philipbryde1

The viral video: https://www.instagram.com/p/DJwgaZssLkiSUP Racer write-up from when the ICF introduced “Recast”: https://supracer.com/apparently-the-icf-wants-even-fewer-people-watching-paddle-racing-live-streams http://youtube.com/@planetcanoe

In the northern hemisphere, spring is starting to turn into summer, and the racing is really heating up now! Billy and Betsy start with a SUP racing recap from the World SUP Festival Costa Blanca in Santa Pola last weekend.

Shuri “Shrimpy” Araki from Japan smashed through an incredibly strong men’s field yet again to win both the distance and technical races. After dominating early races where some of her biggest rivals from Spain were missing, Mariecarmen Rivera of Puerto Rico finally faced them all in Santa Pola. The reigning long distance world champion Esperanza Barreras foiled Mariecarmen in the distance race yet again, continuing their close rivalry in 2025. But Mariecarmen came back stronger the next day to take an early lead in the technical race and out-paddle all three of her biggest Spanish rivals to take gold.

Last weekend also marked the official start of the new Olympic cycle for flat water sprint canoe and kayaking with World Cup #1 in Szeged. Some of your reigning Olympic champions from Paris 2024 are taking a break from international racing, while others showed up to test their mettle against some up-and-coming names. Billy and Betsy dive deep on why this world cup matters, and what kinds of goals the athletes and coaches are hoping to achieve at this stage.

In the descent world, the legendary Sella Descent race scheduled for August is getting closer by the day, and some Spanish paddlers are testing out the course already. Last weekend was also the Descenso del Piloña and Descenso del Alto Sella, two warm-up races for the big race later in the summer.

Finally, Billy and Betsy look at who might be racing Molokai in surfski this upcoming weekend…

00:21 SUP news, recapping the SUP World Festival Costa Blanca in Santa Pola, Spain; Shuri “Shrimpy” Araki dominates the men’s scene; Mariecarmen Rivera leads the women’s field in all

09:44 The first sprint canoe world cup of the season, recapping Szeged World Cup #1

15:06 Surprises in the women’s kayak racing: Aimee Fisher, Zsóka Csikós, Melina Andersson, Anna Pulawska, and Natalia Drobot

21:50 The men’s 1000m race, the most exciting race of the weekend. Exceptional racing from Hamish Lovemore, Balint Kopasz, Josef Dostal, Fernando Pimenta, and Thomas Green.

26:06 An upset in the men’s K4, and some photographic evidence of not-quite-perfect timing from an otherwise near-perfect crew

27:17 Men’s & women’s canoe surprises, including from Gabriele Casadei and Viktoriia Yarchevska

29:59 Previewing next weekend’s world cup in Poznan, Poland, and the first international paracanoe racing of the year

31:11 Recapping two Sella Descent warm-up races from last weekend

*UPDATE - having found the full race results after recording, the mixed crew winners were Natalia Garcia Menendez / Ivan Garcia de Quevedo; the women’s winner was Blanca Escandon del Valle in the K1 2000, and there didn’t appear to be women’s results for the K1 10000 or K2 10000 race35:32 Molokai surfski race preview

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:instagram.com/paddledailyhttps://paddledaily.comhttps://www.instagram.com/supracer https://supracer.comhttp://instagram.com/billylikeskayaking And here’s a few links we referenced in the show…SUP Racer write-up of the biggest six weeks in SUP ever: https://supracer.com/six-weeks-of-non-stop-racing-around-europe-is-almost-over-who-will-come-out-on-top Men’s K1 1000m Race at World Cup 1 in Szeged, the must-watch race of the weekend: https://www.facebook.com/planetcanoe/videos/1912182349631768Lisa Carrington, sprint kayak GOAT, purchases a women’s basketball team: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/basketball/dame-lisa-carrington-joins-kahu-basketball-ownership-group/BF2WJQADM5FXTNPSGXAP4YUK3Q/Descenso del Piloña, the dam of soto de dueñas: https://youtu.be/-3nGQ-ZmL0A? Descenso del Alto Sella Golondrosu Rapids: https://youtu.be/OfNwhOybpqE?si=wI-m9NNEky2e4OXB

Catching up on news, today’s episode is shorter but jam-packed with news from marathon kayaking/canoe and stand up paddleboard racing. Billy and Betsy start with the Dordogne Integrale, one of the biggest ultra paddling races of the year where the first two K1 finishers were separated by only 1 second after more than 8 hours of paddling. They take a quick look at the GB marathon selection race results and identify a few paddlers and crews who could be likely to medal at the European and World Championships later this year.

And then it’s all about SUP… Is this the biggest 6 weeks in SUP ever? That’s what Mike Jucker from Stand Up Magazin has called this April - May stretch of non-stop elite SUP racing. In the episode, Betsy and Billy recap the recent SUP internationals: results and stand-out performances from:

• Battle for Hercules, Spain, April 26-27
• ICF SUP World Cup Sitia, Greece, May 01- 02
• Agios Nikolaos, Greece, May 03-04 (10th anniversary event)
• Triple S Festival Melilla, Spain, May 02-04
• Sancti Petri (Euro Tour) Sup Festival, Spain, May 10-11

The top women so far are too close to separate. No one yet has consistently dominated across events or categories (sprint / technical / distance), they’ve largely been trading places on the podium and beyond. Can any of these top six women start taking the top spot more consistently at this point in the season?

Top Six from this season’s European international races: Mariecarmen Rivera (Puerto Rico), Duna Gordillo (Spain), Alba Frey (Spain), Esperanza Barreras (Spain), Katniss Paris (USA), Csillag Kocsis (Hungary)

On the men’s side, Shrimpy (Shuri Araki, Japan) remains the King of SUP but two young men seem to be having stand-out seasons: Donato Freens (Netherlands) and Fernando Perez Serra (Spain). Keep an eye out for these two in the coming months…

Looking ahead, the SUP racers will be back in Spain again. Betsy and Billy consider: is Spain the SUP capital of the world? And what factors will separate the racers in the coming weeks at the end of this six week block?

00:44 Dordogne Integrale recap & results; surfskis versus K1s; rise of SUP entries

06:31 GB Assessment (Selection) races: which paddlers could medal at worlds?

09:06 SUP Internationals: recapping the results and stand-outs

22:09 Upcoming SUP races: World SUP Festival Costa Blanca & Barcelona World SUP Festival; factors that could differentiate the top few racers

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:

instagram.com/paddledaily

https://paddledaily.com

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

http://instagram.com/billylikeskayaking