The final day is here! It’s Long Distance Sunday, and after some major upsets in sprints and technicals already, the question is – will we see more upsets, or will the favourites finally take their crowns?

The women’s race: Can Mariecarmen go three for three?

The most predictable race has to be open women. Mariecarmen Rivera, the Puerto Rican pocket rocket, is 2/3 into the best world championship of her life. If all goes to plan, she’ll make it 3/3.

Mariecarmen was a podium favourite in 2024, but things just didn’t go her way in the sprint or technical. In the sprint, she missed out on a podium spot by 0.6 of a second. In the technical, she got knocked off her board, derailing her race after she’d made it to the buoy turn first. She did take home a silver medal in the long distance behind the distance queen Esperanza Barreras (ESP), her first ICF world medal and a sign of things to come…

Even before getting to Abu Dhabi, Mariecarmen has had an outstanding season, from pool sprints in Dusseldorf to finally beating Espe in a long distance race in Barcelona (this was the race where Espe had the comeback of the season after a bad start!). Now, she’s officially come into her reign with not one, but two World Champion titles in the sprint and tech races.

She’ll have tough competition in Abu Dhabi, particularly from last year’s bronze medallist Juliette Duhaime (ARG) who finished less than a second behind Mariecarmen in Sarasota. But without Espe to challenge her, Mariecarmen might just be able to take the third world title she’s so close to grasping.

And if Mariecarmen doesn’t pull off an unprecedented triple win (never achieved in the open category)? She’s already got two world titles this weekend, it’s all gravy from here.

The rest of the podium spots in open women are less predictable though, especially without Espe. Juliette has looked strong this weekend: she finished 5th in the sprints, and 4th in the technical, same as last year. Distance racing was her best event in Sarasota, so she could very well upgrade from 2024’s bronze medal.

Alba Frey (ESP) has had her best ICF world championships ever, earning silver in sprints and bronze in tech. She’s a great long distance paddler, and beat her teammate Espe at the Battle for Hercules in April and the BCN SUP Fest in May. Although she finished 7th in the distance race in Sarasota, she’s improved on her other results from last year already, so no reason to think she couldn’t end up on the podium for a third time this weekend.

Rika Okuaki (JPN) and Duna Gordillo (ESP) could be at the sharp end too – last year, they finished 4th, 5th, and 8th respectively, and have all looked just as strong as usual this weekend. Katniss Paris (USA) is racing as well: she’s more of a sprinter than distance and skipped the distance race last year, but after a mishap in her sprint A final, she could be extra motivated to shine in the distance race. It’s only 10km this year, so the shorter distance may benefit strong sprinters who might otherwise suffer in something longer. Seychelle would have been a top contender, but isn’t named on the startlist.

The men’s race: Shrimpy’s defense, or another upset?

The open men’s races haven’t quite gone as expected in sprints or tech, making what looked like a certain win for Shuri “Shrimpy” Araki feel like it’s not guaranteed. The young men from Spain, many of them barely out of the junior category, are having a stellar world championship. Sergio Cantoral Quirant (ESP) won a very tight sprint ahead of last year’s winner Andrey Kraytor (BUL) and former Under 23 C1 world champion Vadim Korobov (LTU).

The tech race was the bigger upset though when Aaron Sanchez (ESP) sat right behind Shrimpy all the way to the penultimate buoy, sprinted his guts out to the final turn, and took his first open world title! The race looked like it belonged to Shrimpy until those final moments.

Shrimpy is still the favourite for Sunday’s distance race, it’s his strongest event and he went unbeaten in distance all season. But Aaron’s win in the tech race shows that Shrimpy is, in fact, beatable – something that didn’t feel true a couple days ago. If Shrimpy does win again, successfully defending his 2024 title, it’ll solidify his place as the distance king of SUP. And it will throw down the gauntlet to the rest of the men to spend the next year trying to figure out how to beat him.

Many of last year’s top distance racers aren’t on the entry list in Abu Dhabi, including 2024’s silver and bronze medallists, Noic Garioud (FRA) and Eri Tenorio (BRA). Going down last year’s finishers list, this year’s entry list looks even emptier – Ethan Bry (FRA), 4th place; Itzel Delgado (PER), 7th; Vaic Garioud (FRA), 8th; Arthur Arutkin (FRA), 10th. Only 4 of last year’s top 10 are racing this year: Shrimpy, Rai Taguchi (JPN), Manu Hoyuela (ESP), and Donato Freens (NED).

Those numbers suggest that Rai, Manu, and Donato should be the top contenders for the podium this year along with Shrimpy. They’ll have tough competition though, including from more of those prolifically fast members of Team Spain: Antonio Morillo, Fernando Perez, Sergio Cantoral, Aaron Sanchez, Ivan Puente, and others.

Normen Weber (GER) has an outside chance at the podium – he may be 40 years old, but age doesn’t seem to be slowing him down. Normen finished 5th in the open men’s sprint final on Friday, and has had some fantastic distance racing results this year including 2nd place at the Lake Rocks Festival behind Donato and ahead of Michael Booth (AUS).

Speaking of Michael Booth, he’s flown out to Abu Dhabi just for this long distance race. He’s the 2019 & 2022 distance world champion: can he take that title again this year? His 2024 race was struck by disaster when his paddle broke, knocking him completely out of the running. Unlike the other competitors, he hasn’t yet raced this weekend – so he’s coming into Sunday’s race fresh, for better or for worse.

With such an open race, it’s also worth mentioning Team Greece who could be the dark horse here. Anastasios Tsouris finished 12th in last year’s distance race, and both Phaedon Doukas and Nikos Malekakis have had some solid results in the sprint and tech racing in Abu Dhabi.

It’ll be a mostly new top 10, and hopefully show off some great tactical racing.

The juniors

The girls race should be a relatively easy win for the rising star from Hungary, Csillag Kocsis. She’s proven again and again that she can compete with the best women in the world in the open category, so racing juniors should be a breeze. But after a shocking upset on Saturday where she fell off her board at the start of the technical A final, Csillag will have to do some strong mental prep to get in the right headspace to win her distance race and successfully defend her title.

Last year’s silver and bronze medallists aren’t racing, as Cecilia Pampinella (ITA) has aged into the open category and Soryn Preston (USA) opted not to race in Abu Dhabi. Claudia Postiglione (ITA), Alexia Soto (ESP), and Amelia Moral (ESP) finished 4th, 5th, and 6th last year and they’ll be eyeing podium spots.

Hanna Kaminska (POL) and Bianca Toncelli (ESP) have paddled well this weekend. But the biggest surprises were the girls on the podium in Saturday’s tech race: Sveva Sabato (ITA), Erasmia Malekaki (GRE), and Velia Pisanelli (ITA). Will they be able to repeat such impressive performances again in the distance race?

In the boys race, the 15 year old Benyam Bossack (GER) took bronze in the technical, and could very well improve on that in the long distance – he’s had some fantastic results this year racing against the open age category, including at the Lake Rocks Festival. 

Zeno Szabo (HUN) took bronze in the sprints and finished 5th in the tech race, making him a strong podium contender. Tastuma Nishikawa (JPN) made a big splash winning the tech race on Saturday, so he’ll be a favourite too. It’s a pretty open field, and a lot of boys who still have multiple years left as juniors are excelling this year.

Stay tuned

Follow SUP Racer on social media and at supracer.com to make sure you don’t miss more race previews and recaps. The live stream this year will cover Friday – Sunday, and must be purchased via the @PlanetCanoe YouTube channel subscription. For more on the ICF’s decision to paywall livestreams, check out this episode of Paddlecast.