Ciao a tutti! SUP Season 2024 is officially open. From our first impression the SUP Spring Race in Italy looked like success. There were many international names present and the turn out seemed to be quite decent. We did not see all the names we expected, but to see Rai Taguchi from Japan making an early appearance in Europe sends a strong signal. We might speculate if Rai is planing to spend a SUP season in Europe as the first Japanese paddler to conquer European Races. Despite the ICF sanction the race we would have thought more athletes would have taken the opportunity for an early qualification for the finals in Sarasota. Such as Esperanza Barreras and Duna Gordillo, the Garioud Brothers and many more.
Regardless, the race was filled with enthusiasm and the board casting on Social Media went quite well. Mr. Matieu TotalSUP underlined the race with great content creation and commentary. It was a great way to start the season.
Longdistance Race
Rai Taguchi arrived at the finish line with a comfortable lead followed by sprinting Donato Freens and Antonio Morillo and the rest of the 6. It was Donato that had a slight edge over Antonio. The suprise 4th was Normen Weber who competes in a different age group and held his own against much younger competitors.
We unfortunately don’t have race times and more infos from the women side, but looking at the top 6 we notice at first that the queen of SUP Esperanza Barreras was not present. Until further info is available we congratulate long time competitors Laura Quetglas and Susak Molinero for a great race. Italy’s SUP phenomenon Cecilia Pampinella came in third.
Men Longdistance
- Rai Taguchi
- Donato Freens
- Antonio Morillo
- Normen Weber
- Paolo Marconi
- Ludovic Teulade
Women Longdistance
- Laura Quetglas
- Susak Molinero
- Cecilia Pampinella
- Rea Logotheti
- Sabine Fischer
- Katniss Paris
TECH RACE OPEN MEN
- Rai Taguchi
- Filippo Mercuriali
- Donato Freens
SPRINT OPEN MEN
- Cameron Tripney
- Normen Weber
- Filippo Mercuriali
LONG DISTANCE MEN
- Rai Taguchi
- Donato Freens
- Antonio Morillo
TECH RACE OPEN WOMEN
- Cecilia Pampinella
- Katniss Pariss
- Laura Quetglas
SPRINT OPEN WOMEN
- Cecilia Pampinella
- Susak Molinero
- Rea Logotheti
LONG DISTANCE WOMEN
- Laura Quetglas
- Susak Molinero
- Cecilia Pampinella
Given the organizers awarded an overall winner it would have been Rai Taguchi and Cecilia Pampinella. With this event marking the start of the 2024 races season we are also very much curios to follow the SUP World Rankings as these early results can set some racers apart from the rest of the field. Particularly with the absence of some bigger names.