By Sonya Brotherton

Photos: SupJunkie

ICF SUP World Championships
Gdynia Poland
7 – 11 September 2022

Great Britain is on top of the World 

Winning a gold, silver and bronze in the individual events and silver and bronze in the Team Nation Cups

The 3rd ICF SUP World Championships saw nearly 500 competitors from 42 countries compete over the five days to crown this year’s SUP World Champions.

Great Britain had 14 athletes who made the trip, including the teams selected by British Canoeing to represent Team GB in the Nations Cup Technical and Distance events.

Gdynia is a seaport on the Polish Baltic coast and was a superb location for the event with hotels, promenades, beach restaurants and local historic attractions. Across the stunning bay was the most incredible set-up of athlete’s areas, secure board storage for hundreds of 14ft race boards, huge screens to watch events unfold and spectator areas.

THE SPRINTS

Wednesday saw some preliminary rounds for the men’s sprinting and, in the evening, an opening ceremony. Then we kicked off the main events with the Sprints on Thursday. Lining up for the start next to some of the World’s best, we had ICF volunteers holding the tail of our boards, a normal procedure in ICF-seated disciplines. However, as we are standing, this represents an additional challenge. Seeing other competitors losing balance and falling in before the start meant we approached with some trepidation.

Suddenly those starting buckets that we all love to hate from our national sprint course seemed much more appealing! So, coaches, add that to your constraints-led approach because it requires some practice.

Paddling in temporary lanes, it was difficult to see and maintain course, which, along with large wake and reverb, caused some carnage in the early rounds with a paddler free for all cutting across lanes.

After a dominating start, Ben Moreham was 5th in the second round heats following being completely cut off by two paddlers crossing his lane.

Additional discipline was enforced by the later rounds in which the excitement built with an electric atmosphere.

The British supporters were incredible throughout the week, bringing a passion and spirit to the event that gave the impression of a much larger presence. The cheering had reached unbelievable heights when we witnessed our paddlers in their respective finals.

This saw Great Britain achieve some fantastic results, with Emily Evans finishing first and Holly Pye 8th in the Open Ladies B final.

Marie Buchanan placed 6th Ladies 40+ final, Sarah Perkins 6th Ladies 50+final, and Blue Ewer was 9th in the Men’s Open A Final.

For the Juniors, Will Keetley was 7th in Sprint Final B, and Molly McKibben was 2nd in Sprint Final C.

The forecast storm arrived on Thursday night, and we awoke to wild winds, rain, angry seas and postponement of the long-distance race.

A tense wait followed as further postponements were made until we eventually lined up for the start of what was to be the most challenging race.

THE LONG-DISTANCE RACE

GB individual gold, silver and team bronze

With the swell crashing towards us, we waded out over the sand bar through the breaking waves to start the four laps with 25-knot gusts and confused 1.5 M swell for this 16km long-distance race.

As I made good progress staying in the mix, I soon saw the familiar colours of Holly Pye and Marie Buchanan’s wetsuits and their Starboards drawing past as they progressed towards the front. 

Holly spends much of her training sup surfing and downwinding near Plymouth, and having spent time on the Eurotour this year, her experienced showed. Marie Buchanan, a seasoned GB team member with enormous experience, trains around the South Devon coastline. I regularly train in these conditions on the Solent at Hayling Island. So being ocean paddlers, we settled into a rhythm and started to enjoy some of the larger bumps whilst looking forward to the downwind section. 

Unfortunately, the downwind had a turbulent groundswell, wind swell and chop mixing in all directions like a giant washing machine, so apart from catching the odd glide, it was more of riding an ocean rodeo.

We all took some swims, and after the second time hauling myself out of the freezing Baltic Sea, my heart sank as I saw my leash wrapped around my fin. The only way to continue was to jump back in, untangle it, and remount. This, combined with the fierce and bitter wind, was a killer.

I fought hard to complete the 3rd lap but was shaking with the cold so violently that I just knew I had to make the safe but bitterly disappointing decision to retire. It was a similar story for Emily Evans. Despite being an extremely skilled ocean paddler in the biggest conditions, she also became overcome with the cold to retire after two laps.

Felicity Hurst was open to saying these conditions were beyond her current experience but still had a positive attitude and started the race to complete her one lap. Many experienced and world-class paddlers retired after one lap or decided not to start. 

Blue Ewer looked super strong as he lapped me showing his experience in all conditions. With plenty of international racing experience, he and Ben Moreham completed the Open Men’s race with fantastic results.

Marie Buchanan is the Long Distance ICF World Champion
Marie Buchanan dominated the Ladies’ 40+ field to take the gold medal.  

Holly Pye completed the race finishing an incredible 13th place in the Open Ladies category.

The GB team of Holly Pye, Sonya Brotherton, Emily Evans and Felicity Hurst won the bronze in the Nations Cup.

In the Open Men’s race, Blue Ewer finished 21st, with Ben Moreham in 22nd. 

For the Juniors, Will Keetley finished in 31st position.  

Later in the day, Sarah Perkins, another paddler with fantastic talent in the surf and on the ocean bumps, relished the conditions and finished the Ladies 50+ to take the silver medal.

Steve Lynn was on the start line for the Men’s 50+ alongside the Junior boys and commented later how impressed he was with the sheer numbers of these youngsters from other countries and their incredible excitement to be there. 

Great Britain needs to focus on this now with a long-term athlete development program.

Steve is another experienced ocean paddler that trains in all conditions and had a great race to finish 19th overall in a large field.

THE TECHNICAL RACES

GB individual silver, bronze and team silver

Conditions were much improved for the technical heats on Saturday over a 1km course with eight buoy turns. Another day of intoxicating atmosphere with all paddlers putting in strong performances.

Blue Ewer had his fortunes dictated by some foul play in his semi-final involving being pushed in the ribs by a paddle at a buoy turn. The competitor that did this was disqualified, but that was no consolation for Blue, who finished 6th, so he missed out on the final he looked sure to do well in. Some say that’s the nature of technical racing, but this was a blow too far.

In the Open Ladies, Holly Pye continued her consistent form progressing through the rounds for another overall 13th position.

Emily Evans finished overall 15th to top off an incredible month of international competition.

Verity Thomas, known as ‘VeeJay’, had a great heat against a stacked field in the Open Ladies to finish 4th and progress to the semi-finals. Unfortunately, as VeeJay ran for the finish, she heard the snap of a calf muscle tear snap which ended her championship campaign. Veejay continued to be a pivotal team member and had secured enough points to add another medal to the GB tally, this time a silver with the GB Technical Team and Holly Pye and Emily Evans.

The technical course was inventive and great fun, with still a few bumps and texture. I was delighted to take a qualifying spot for the Ladies Open semi-finals with 4th place to finish 7th in my semi-final.

Felicity Hurst enjoyed her technical heat, finishing in 7th. Marie Buchanan put in another dominating performance for a win in her Ladies 40+ heats and semi-final to then claim her second medal of the championship in the final with a Silver.

Sarah Perkins had another outstanding performance in the Ladies 50+ Technical race, winning the Bronze medal.

Anni Ridsdill Smith topped qualifying for her sprints semi with another fantastic 4th to qualify for the technical semi-finals for Ladies 50+, where she finished 8th. A huge and deserving achievement for one of our best-known female paddlers that tirelessly works to help and inspire others. Anni competes with enormous pride to represent Great Britain and is a massive support to us all.

In the Juniors, Molly McKibben finished her impressive week with 8th place in Sunday’s technical B final.

Will Keetley continued his consistent form to finish 11th overall by coming 3rd in his B Final.

We want to thank the International Canoe Federation and all its volunteers, the Polish Canoe Federation, the Polish authorities and the city of Gdynia for hosting this event.

We must also mention the fantastic supporters at the championships and at home, whom we appreciated.

I will leave the final comment to the biggest supporter of British SUP, Sarah Elizabeth Thornely of SupJunkie;

“It has been such a privilege to follow and support the team from the UK, most of whom we know personally from the race circuit. To see them compete against some of the best paddlers in the World and perform so well was just wonderful. We are proud of them all and how they have shown pure team spirit at these Championships.”