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Danny Ching has just won gold in the Men’s Distance Race here at the 2015 ISA Worlds, giving Team USA a critical lead in the team standings against arch-rivals Team Australia and Team Hawaii. After two of the most entertaining hours of racing we’ve ever seen, Danny claimed the win just ahead of local hero Bicho Jimenez, who at one point looked set for the win.

After the top 15 guys formed a steady draft train for the first three laps, Bicho made a break at the beginning of the fourth and final leg. With just a few board lengths lead, the dark horse from Team Mexico snagged a wave on the inside that extended his gap from 10 metres to 100 metres in an instant. From there the race became a 4km sprint to the line, as Bicho tried valiantly to hold off the chase group.

Analyse the updated SUP Racer World Rankings

With the Mexican crowd roaring him on from the beach and the spectator boats, Bicho held onto the virtual gold medal position for a good 10-15 minutes. The tension, the excitement, the atmosphere was electric. The lead pack was splintering behind him as the likes of Georges Cronsteadt, Titouan Puyo and Danny Ching stepped up the pace and tried to close the gap.

Eventually Danny was able to close the gap, but in doing so he’d broken the rest of the contenders, turning the contest into a two horse race to the finish. Over the final 1-2 kilometres, Danny tried hard but couldn’t shake Bicho, only pulling clear in the final hundred metres. Behind the lead duo, the other top 13 guys were splintering badly, with only seven paddlers remaining in contention for the minor medals in the closing stages.

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Sick little edit from today’s race thanks to Rogue SUP

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This was an absolutely massive performance from Danny. The 404 front man had led in the early stages in a bid to break up the main pack, but such is the level of competition on show this week, Danny failed to splinter the draft train in the relatively flat ocean conditions. Unable to break away, Danny drifted back to 6th in the train, seemingly happy to let the others do the work. But when the race was on the line, and when Bicho looked to be paddling away like Speedy Gonzales, Danny put the hammer down in a vintage, determined effort.

Once again, Danny Ching has shown us he’s still the king.

Danny eventually claimed the win by a margin, catching a bump and pulling clear of Bicho in the 200 metre final sprint in from the final buoy to the beach.

Bicho was left in flat water paddling to the shore, and the Rogue team rider was almost caught by the chase group charging in on a set wave. But he held on for the silver medal and received the loudest possible cheer from the local and vocal supporters crowding the finish line. Bicho became an instant folk hero here in Sayulita, with the quiet youngster being mobbed by team mates, family, friends and random supporters the moment he crossed the line.

Below: Bicho Jimenez being embraced and congratulated post-race by his proud father (credit: Wicked Fotos)

Behind Danny and Bicho it was an intense sprint for the minor medals, with Casper Steinfath and Georges Cronsteadt looking set for the podium before Connor Baxter, Zane Schweitzer and Titouan Puyo scored a perfect set wave, which left five guys on one wave fighting for two medals.

The Maui boys Connor and Zane won the sprint up the sand to give Team Hawaii – who has shown exceptional team spirit this week – a podium double and some very valuable team points. That left Casper in 5th, defending champ Titou in 6th and Georges Cronsteadt in 7th for Team Tahiti.

Fernando Stalla was on the next wave, taking a photo finish for 8th/9th with Leonard Nika from Italy, who himself had sat at the front of the train for much of the race. Slater Trout snuck in for a Top 10 finish that gave Team USA an additional haul of valuable points.

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Though one of the big stories of the day was Team Australia’s lowly finish. Their big hope in the Distance Race, Beau O’Brian, stayed with the main pack for the first three laps but then faded badly, clearly feeling the effects from a bout of food poisoning earlier in the week. Beau’s team mate Toby Cracknell, more favoured for the Course Race, came home 11th to give the defending champions relatively few points for the overall team standings. This is the first time Australia has failed to make the Top 10 in the four year history of this World Championship.

That’s a huge development in the race for the team champions trophy.

Beau wasn’t the only one to suffer though, with Brazil’s Vinnicius Martins, New Zealand’s Armie Armstrong (who had to be put on oxygen at the finish) and Holland’s Bart de Zwart all battling illness on the eve of the race. It was hot and draining out there today, and those who weren’t feeling 100% were mercilessly exposed.

Another surprisingly low finish came from Eric Terrien, third in this event last year and a medal contender this morning. The Frenchman was shattered with his performance, commenting on Instagram that perhaps this was the beginning of the end for his professional racing career.

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But the day belonged to Danny Ching. Slater Trout commented “I’m calling best/most exciting comeback in SUP Distance Racing history. Living legend.”

Indeed, Danny’s performance certainly was a comeback.

On the third lap Danny looked slightly deflated. He’d spent the early part of the contest unsuccessfully trying to break the pack, and when Bicho made his move it took him several minutes to respond. In fact the champ fell at the buoy turn just as Bicho was sprinting away, which was an extremely uncharacteristic move and suggested Danny was perhaps feeling tired from his last-minute trip to Mexico (the Team USA star only flew in last night).

At that point Danny was sitting in about 7th, with many of the world’s best paddlers directly in front of him and an inspired Bicho roaring away out in front. But as the competitors rounded the outside buoy to begin the long “back straight” section of the course, which saw them paddle for about 2km in a dead straight line, Danny clicked into gear and began his surge. First, he moved down the outside of the main draft train and took control of the driver’s seat. Then he stepped up the pace in pursuit of Bicho, taking just minutes to reel in the fearless local.

None of the other contenders could go with Danny when he surged, leaving only Bicho in contention for the final mile of the race. It was a vintage performance from one of the sport’s all time greats, and it was done against one of the most competitive fields ever assembled.

That high level of competition means the 2015 ISA Worlds Men’s Distance Race has had a big impact on the SUP Racer World Rankings, with plenty of changes on the Top 100 Leaderboard. Danny Ching’s total points tally has risen, with the guy in the green hat moving within striking distance of world number one Connor Baxter.

Bicho Jimenez is the biggest mover though, with the new Mexican folk hero jumping six placings to world #13. Japan’s Kenny Kaneko, who had a superb race to finish 12th against this uber-competitive field, rises 19 spots to world #53. Unlucky is Slater Trout, who had a solid Top 10 finish today but dropped two spots after the Mexicon duo of Fernando and Bicho edged ahead.

Take a look at the updated SUP Racer World Rankings

On the ISA leaderboard, Team USA now takes a commanding lead of approximately 400 points over the Aussies, with Team Hawaii nipping at the defending champions’ heels. Australia was spared further blushes when young Lachie Lansdown won the prone distance race for the Green & Gold, however he was just seconds ahead of Team USA’s Jack Bark which ensured Team USA finished the day well ahead.

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That was an amazing race. I was loving every minute of it out there in the lead boat, while I could hear Jamie Mitchell losing his voice alongside Beau Hodges back in the booth. The boys were absolutely spent at the finish. Several collapsing as the crossed the line. They gave it all in search of individual glory and, even more importantly, the pride of their nation.

We thought the short, sharp Course Race was going to be more exciting than the Distance, however that was one of the most entertaining spectacles I’ve ever seen.

2015 ISA Worlds: Men’s Long Distance Results

Course: 17kms
Conditions: Hot
Race Index score: 43.0%
View the updated SUP Racer World Rankings

Place	Name	Country	Time	ISA Points	SUP Racer Points
1	Danny Ching	USA	1:41:59	1000	43.00
2	Javier "Bicho" Jimenez	MEX	1:42:11	860	32.25
3	Connor Baxter	HAW	1:42:26	730	25.80
4	Zane Schweitzer	HAW	1:42:27	670	21.50
5	Casper Steinfath	DEN	1:42:28	610	18.28
6	Titouan Puyo	FRA	1:42:29	583	15.05
7	Georges Cronsteadt	TAH	1:42:30	555	12.90
8	Leonard Nika	ITA	1:42:33	528	10.75
9	Fernando Stalla	MEX	1:42:34	500	9.68
10	Slater Trout	USA	1:44:00	488	8.60
11	Toby Cracknell	AUS	1:44:20	475	7.74
12	Kenny Kaneko	JPN	1:44:40	462	6.88
13	Eric Terrien	FRA	1:45:06	450	6.45
14	Ethan Koopmans	RSA	1:45:29	438	6.02
15	Arthur Santacreu	BRA	1:45:42	425	5.59
16	Tamas Buday Jr	CAN	1:45:46	413	5.16
17	Beau O'Brian	AUS	1:46:53	400	4.73
18	Armie Armstrong	NZL	1:47:12	395	4.30
19	Itzel Delgado	PER	1:47:41	390	3.87
20	Eric Leou-on	TAH	1:47:43	385	3.44
21	Vinnicius Martins	BRA	1:48:00	380	3.23
22	Pepe Oltra	SPA	1:48:47	375	3.01
23	JP Tobin	NZL	1:49:13	370	2.80
24	Hakim Dridah	SWI	1:51:40	365	2.58
25	Ollie Shilston	UK	1:51:43	360	2.37
26	Joseph Cerdas	CRI	1:51:44	355	2.24
27	Jurgi Zulaika	SPA	1:52:51	350	2.11
28	Koichi Matsumoto	JPN	1:53:13	345	1.98
29	Quintin Chiapperino	VIR	1:53:33	340	1.85
30	Joshua Robertson	RSA	1:53:50	335	1.72
31	Matt Abbott	CAN	1:53:52	330	1.63
32	Leonardo Toso	ITA	1:54:05	325	1.55
33	Bart de Zwart	HOL	1:54:15	320	1.46
34	Andy Joyce	UK	1:54:30	315	1.38
35	Martijn van Deth	HOL	1:56:45	310	1.29
36	Andreas Svensson	SWE	1:57:30	305	1.20
37	Mariano Rossini	ARG	1:57:48	300	1.12
38	David Mangan	IRE	1:59:12	295	1.03
39	Lucas Correa	ARG	1:59:20	290	0.95
40	Christophe Conry	CHI	2:00:54	285	0.86
41	Keith McGuirk	IRE	2:01:38	280	0.82
42	Patrick Boyum	SWE	2:04:45	275	0.77
43	Carlos Martíns	VEN	2:05:32	270	0.73
44	Oswaldo Velez	PER	2:16:30	265	0.69

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Team Champions Leaderboard: Day 3 Day 5

After 6 (out of 11) gold medals have been decided
Maximum Team Points Available Until Now: 8,580
Maximum Team Points Remaining: 6,720
Maximum Total Team Points Available: 15,300
Hover over #1, #2, etc to identify each event

#	Nation	Points	#1	#2	#3	#3	#4	#4	#5	#6	#6
1	USA	7016	1000	730	1000	488	860	488	1000	1000	450
2	Australia	5606	730	1000	475	400	1000	583	555	450	413
3	Hawaii	5403	555	670	730	670	610	500	583	610	475
4	New Zealand	4828	610	610	395	370	730	670	500	583	360
5	Mexico	4783	395	500	860	500	390	380	500	730	528
6	Brazil	4656	583	555	425	380	413	385	860	555	500
7	South Africa	4484	475	860	438	335	528	375	610	450	413
8	Spain	4361	528	583	375	350	555	475	730	390	375
9	Tahiti	3953	450	0	555	385	438	400	475	860	390
10	Peru	3834	425	528	390	265	450	360	528	475	413
11	France	3543	670	0	583	450	0	0	670	670	500
12	Japan	3364	500	0	462	345	462	425	450	360	360
13	Canada	2803	860	0	413	330	395	0	475	330	0
14	Argentina	2635	462	475	300	290	365	0	413	330	0
15	UK	2606	488	0	360	315	370	0	413	360	300
16	Italy	2506	438	0	528	325	0	0	450	390	375
17	Denmark	2128	400	0	610	0	0	0	413	375	330
18	Sweden	2073	413	0	305	275	0	0	450	330	300
19	Costa Rica	1765	390	0	355	0	0	0	390	330	300
20	Chile	1380	0	0	285	0	0	0	375	360	360
21	Ireland	1145	0	0	295	280	0	0	0	300	270
22	Venezuela	758	0	488	270	0	0	0	0	0	0
23	El Salvador	690	0	0	0	0	0	0	390	300	0
24	Holland	630	0	0	320	310	0	0	0	0	0
25	Barbados	630	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	330	300
26	Switzerland	365	0	0	365	0	0	0	0	0	0
27	US Virgin Islands	340	0	0	340	0	0	0	0	0	0

 

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Oh and if you’ve got a few hours spare, you can watch a full replay of today’s live webcast right here: