SUP Alps Trophy Updates and Results

Updates from the Faaker See in Austria

Tech. Races on Sunday

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As expected, the women’s Technical Race was dominated by Csillag Kocsis and Esperanza Barreras. Csillag had the best start and immediately took the lead, while Esperanza had to fight her way out of the pack. By the first buoy, however, she had settled into second place and found open water ahead to chase down Csillag—eventually catching right onto her tail. Nevertheless, Csillag wasn’t ready to give up her lead and held on all the way to the finish line, even managing to create a gap of about 10 meters. Behind the two, Kyriaki Logotheti secured a solid third place ahead of the chasing pack.

The men’s start couldn’t have been more dramatic. Donato Freens got off to a great start, but two competitors fell right at the beginning—one of them being Filippo Mercuriali. By the first buoy, Donato was in the lead, with Benyam Bossak close behind. From the left, Michael Booth (Boothy) was closing in, although not yet in a comfortable position. After the buoy, Donato managed to pull away slightly, but Benyam stayed right with him. The lead group now consisted of Donato, Boothy, Phaedon Doukas, and Normen Weber.

After the second buoy, Normen Weber suddenly dropped out. As only drone footage was available, it’s assumed he broke his paddle. Donato now had a solid lead and was being chased by Phaedon, with Boothy and Benyam close behind. By the beach rounding, Boothy had caught up with Phaedon, while a very determined Benyam Bossak continued to stay on the heels of the sport’s legend.

Heading to the second buoy after the beach, Boothy rounded first. Phaedon, on the outside, had to make room for Benyam, who was still on Boothy’s tail. This allowed Benyam to overtake Phaedon right after the turn. On the final stretch, it became clear that no one was going to catch Donato.

The big sensation of the final was 16-year-old Benyam Bossak, who kept up with Boothy the entire race and finished third—just behind two of the sport’s biggest names and ahead of many far more experienced SUP racers. What a day it must have been for the young talent!

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Men Longdistance Race

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Under a bright blue sky, approximately 231 paddlers lined up at the start, with all eyes on the pros who had made their way to Austria. The most anticipated showdown was between Michael Booth and Donato Freens. Everyone remembers the 2024 race when Donato beat Boothy—a defining moment for the young talent, outracing a true legend of the sport. At the time, we asked whether this marked a changing of the guard, and while we caught some flak for that question, the races this year seem to confirm the trend.

After the start, a lead group of eight to ten paddlers broke away from the pack, which gradually thinned out even more. Among them was Normen Weber, who held tight to Donato until the final stretch. Suddenly, the question wasn’t whether Boothy could keep up with Donato—it was whether Donato could shake off Normen. Boothy fell back and found himself in a tight battle with Joep van Bakel.

While Donato eventually managed to pull away and secure the win, the duel between Boothy and Joep remained fierce all the way up the beach. Filippo Mercuriali finished in fifth, just under a minute and thirty seconds behind Donato. But perhaps the most impressive performance came from 16-year-old Benyam Bossak, who finished sixth, beating out several highly experienced paddlers in the field. A truly remarkable effort from the young athlete.

On this map of individual racers arriving at the finish line, we see that the most paddlers arrived about 8 – 20 minutes behind Donato Freens and the other front runners.

Men Top 10

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Women Longdistance

The women’s long-distance race turned into a head-to-head battle between Csillag Kocsis and Esperanza Barreras. These two athletes were in a league of their own, racing without any real competition from the rest of the field. The final stretch was particularly dramatic: Espe managed to gain a slight lead, with Csillag sitting right in her draft. Then, in a bold move, Csillag changed lines and launched a final attack for the lead but came up just short, crossing the finish line only 3.22 seconds behind Espe.

It took another five minutes before the next competitors arrived. In fourth place was Lisa Venturelli, a promising junior from Italy whose name has been appearing more and more on the radar lately. The absence of several top international pro women allowed many up-and-coming athletes to step into the spotlight, with several young names breaking into the top 10. Among them was Skadi Langbein, a talented young German who had already earned prize money earlier this season at the Agios Nikolaos race.

This map illustrates the dominance of Espe and Csillag pretty clear, they were far ahaed of the pack and most ladies arrived withing the 10 minute mark, then the field is spreading out even more.