Between the ICF World Cups, the EuroTour, and the newly announced European SUP League, it’s been near impossible for even the biggest SUP racing fans to keep track of all the action this spring. And for the racers themselves, the questions have been: which races are worth competing in? How many can I realistically make it to? Can my board and I make it through all these flights without breaking??

So far, so good (mostly).

It’s been a thrilling six(ish) weeks with incredibly tight racing, particularly between the top women. Aside from a few close sprint races, most of the action has been in the technical and long distance events. Looking toward the rest of the season, the results so far suggest we could see 2024’s world champions de-throned in 2025…

2024’s Reigning World Champions: Women

ICF Technical	Duna Gordillo
ISA Technical	Duna Gordillo
ICF Long Distance	Esperanza Barreras
ISA Long Distance	Esperanza Barreras

2024’s Reigning World Champions: Men

ICF Technical	Noic Garioud
ISA Technical	Rai Taguchi
ICF Long Distance	Shuri Araki
ISA Long Distance	Rai Taguchi

Will there even be new ISA world champions in 2025?

Since the ISA has yet to announce a 2025 World Championship event for SUP, perhaps the ISA champions will get to keep their titles for an extra year unchallenged. But rumour has it that the ISA could be holding this year’s world champs in Peru around October… With the ICF Worlds already scheduled for 29 October – 1 November in Abu Dhabi and flights from Lima to Abu Dhabi in the 22-34 hour range (not to mention the cost), athletes wanting to race both events may be feeling increasingly frustrated with the ISA.

But before jumping to October, let’s look at who will finish on top of the spring season…

Shrimpy stuns with a new “sponsor” (he’s keeping it in the family)

It’s Shuri Araki, “Shrimpy”, who is absolutely dominating the men’s racing. His 2025 record so far isn’t quite perfect, but it’s pretty darn close. Just in May, he’s won six out of six technical and long distance races from Greece to Spain.

At only 19, it’s just another year on the throne for Shrimpy. The biggest change for him this season has been becoming a free agent: after racing for Flying Fish Board Co., he has started racing this year on a new custom board from a designer you probably haven’t heard of before… Papa Shrimpy. In an interview following his most recent win, gold in the technical race at the World SUP Festival Santa Pola, Shuri said: “I used the new board, my father designed it. It was perfect.” Shrimpy’s family is giving a new definition to “sponsorship”!

Can anyone catch Shrimpy?

The rest of the men’s field is doing their best to challenge Shrimpy, but he’s making it hard. With so much of the spring season’s racing happening on the sea, it seems to be giving Shrimpy even more of an advantage – catching bumps is one of his strongest skills. In Santa Pola, it was Aaron Sanchez who followed suit and made the most of some nice runners on the downwinds to overtake his competitors and earn two silver positions behind Shrimpy for both the technical and long distance races.

Fernando Perez (ESP) and Donato Freens (NED) are having stand-out seasons, with repeat Top 3 positions across the races. The Dutch paddler has earned a Top 3 position five times between technical and distance races, at almost every event he’s competed at.

Mariecarmen versus Espe… will Mariecarmen finally have her year of gold?

Counting wins, Mariecarmen Rivera of Puerto Rico is in the lead: across the 4 events she’s competed at, she’s won 4 technical races and 1 long distance race. She certainly looks like she’s gearing up for a world title. But at least in the long distance, Esperanza Barreras (ESP) won’t give it up easily.

Mariecarmen and Espe largely avoided direct face-offs at the start of the spring season. While Espe took 2nd in the technical and distance races at the Battle for Hercules, Mariecarmen was gearing up to take 1st in the technical race in Sitia, Crete. When Agios Nikolaos overlapped with the Triple S Festival, Espe stayed in Spain and Mariecarmen stayed in Crete. Both increased their medal count. When Espe skipped Santi Petri, Mariecarmen cruised to another win.

Espe and Mariecarmen’s results from 2024 prove just how close this rivalry is. At the ISA World Championships in Denmark last year, Espe took the long distance title ahead of Mariecarmen by less than two seconds. At the ICF World Championships in the US, Espe bested Mariecarmen by four seconds.

Finally, at Santa Polo last weekend, Espe and Mariecarmen went head to head in a distance race for the first time in 2025. The result? Yet one more victory for Espe with Mariecarmen just moments behind. Mariecarmen came out with a strong start and led the pack with Espe, Alba Frey (ESP), and Duna Gordillo (ESP). But over 15km of open ocean paddling around the island of Tabarca and back to Santa Pola, it was Espe’s more strategic approach of conserving energy that proved more successful and she pushed ahead to take the win.

Redemption in the technical race

Though Espe snatched the distance win again, Mariecarmen didn’t let it get her down: she came into the technical racing the next day with guns blazing. In the technical final, the Puerto Rican phenomenon gave it her all right from the start. After losing her 2024 ICF World Championships technical final due to buoy turn drama, it’s not surprising that she went for a quick start to earn clean, uncrowded buoy turns. The real trick from there was keeping the lead. Alba Frey made a huge effort to chase her down: even as they both sprinted toward the beach finish, Alba was still trying to catch that magic wave that would get her ahead. But Mariecarmen pulled it off: with all her energy, she maintained her lead and took another win.

Barcelona rematch?

Behind Mariecarmen and Alba were Duna and Espe. Espe may still be winning their distance rivalry, but at least Mariecarmen got to show Espe that she could beat her around the buoys. Alba and Duna are just as much Mariecarmen’s rivals in technical racing too, particularly Duna who holds the current world title. We may get to see all four of these top women at a rematch in Barcelona next weekend.

And hopefully Barcelona will also feature the return of Csillag Kocsis, the young racer from Hungary who’s undeniably on the rise. She suffered from illness in Greece, but if she’s fully recovered and back in top shape, she could definitely threaten some of these more established racers. Csillag finished in second place behind Mariecarmen in both the technical races in Crete, and in third place at the Battle for Hercules behind Duna and Espe. It’s her first year out of the junior category, but you wouldn’t know it from watching her race.

But which athletes are “officially” winning?

The races this spring have been part of several different ‘leagues’ with various ranking systems: Euro Tour, ICF World Cups, and now the European SUP League (because at least one surfing federation has decided it won’t let the ICF take all the glory). Very sensibly though, the leagues seem to be piggybacking on existing events and have even allowed some events to be part of multiple leagues.

For the Euro Tour, which actually started in Dusseldorf in January, Mariecarmen Rivera and Shuri Araki “Shrimpy” are the lead. For the ICF World Ranking, Donato Freens (NED) is leading the men’s distance and technical categories; Andrii Kraitor leads men’s sprint; Susak Molinero (ITA) leads women’s distance and sprint; and Csillag Kocsis (HUN) leads women’s technical racing. For the European SUP League, it’s Alba Frey (ESP) and Christian Andersen “Polar Bear” (DEN) at the top so far. So… clear as mud?

If the league rankings are too confusing, try the approach that Mike Jucker of Stand Up Magazin is advocating: follow the money. Earnings from prize money place Shuri Araki “Shrimpy” and Mariecarmen Rivera in the lead with €2600 each as of 14th May, before Santa Pola.

The last race of the spring season: Barcelona

Most of the top names who just raced in Santa Pola have confirmed their plans to race again in Barcelona. And why not stay in Spain for one more week when it’s the SUP capital of the world?

A few notable paddlers have travelled from further away: Michael Booth “Boothy” from Australia finished 5th in long distance in Santa Pola at his first big race in a while. He may have been a bit rusty at Santa Pola, but might improve on that form in Barcelona. Titouan Puyo is another one to watch: the New Caledonian paddler arrived in Europe for Santa Pola and has plans to stay for a couple of weeks to race Barcelona World SUP Festival and the SUP Race Cup Sainte-Maxime in France. Jenny Kalmbach, who represents Costa Rica, has flown out for her first Euro Tour and has already made it into the money.

But the biggest questions for next weekend will be: Can Mariecarmen finally beat Espe in the long distance race? Will Hungarian Csillag Kocsis be sufficiently recovered from illness to challenge the Mariecarmen/Alba/Duna domination in the technical racing? Can any of the men truly challenge Shrimpy, King of SUP?

If you enjoy paddling news, but you prefer it in video/audio format, check out Paddlecast. On Paddlecast, co-hosts Billy and Betsy talk to and about paddlers who are pushing the limits. They share news from the paddling world across SUP, sprint kayak, marathon kayak, surfski, and more. And interview incredible paddlers from various disciplines. Listen to (and watch) Paddlecast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Six weeks of non-stop SUP racing around Europe: what were all the races?

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

World SUP Festival Costa Blanca in Santa Pola (Euro Tour), Spain, May 17-18

Barcelona World SUP Festival, Spain, May 24-25

What about sprint?

While all the events packed into this April-May spring seasonal burst of racing included technical and most included long distance, only two so far have included sprint racing. With fewer results this spring and often (but not always) less overlap between the sprint winners and technical/distance winners, it’s easier to look at sprint results separately. Katniss Paris, Andrii Kraitor, and Eri Tenorio have all stood out in the sprint season so far, but it’ll be easier to see who’s trending toward world titles once they have a few more races under their belts…