Katniss Paris may be a bit of a newcomer to the international SUP racing scene, but she made waves when she clinched the 2024 ICF SUP Sprint World Title.
She kicked off her 2025 season with an impressive performance at the Indoor EURO TOUR SUP World Cup during the boot show in Düsseldorf, followed by a great win at the ICF SUP World Cup in Sitia, Greece.
As a dedicated sprint specialist, Katniss focuses exclusively on short-distance racing, with limited participation in technical races and no involvement in long-distance events.
At Stand Up Magazin, we were curious to hear her thoughts on the current state of SUP sprint racing—and learn more about her experience competing in Greece.
Aloha Paris, thanks for your time. We had a brief chat on social media about your visit in Europe and how athletes like you are getting more and more specialized in SUP Disciplines. Let me start from the beginning: How was Greece? What was your over all experience?
I absolutely love Greece! This race will be an annual race for me, the hospitality of the greek people is something you really have to experience. It’s a very friendly place for travelers and quite affordable compare to other places in europe. The race is also so well organized as well, really amazing how well Mikhalis puts it together for Agios. Nancy did a great job on the Sitia side as well.
I really enjoyed everything there and I have a lot of friends in Greece. I recommend everyone visits Greece and the island of Crete at least once. Its stunning! I really enjoy nature and found plenty of breathtaking hiking and paddling. I also can’t describe the cultural experience of interacting with Greek people, you really have to experience that magic for yourself, words can’t do the kindness and hospitality any justice. It’s very very special.
You did really well in the races, you are the Number One SUP Sprinter in the world right now. You won the Sitia sprint race against Marie Carmen. Then in the Tech. Race in Agios you ended up in the 5th place and did not do the Longdistance Race. Again, it is pretty clear you are a sprinter. What is it for you that makes this discipline particularly attractive?
Yes, the tech was 1400m, so that’s particularly long for me, maybe an 800 in surf I could win or top 3 these days. I mostly rely on ocean skills in tech, that actually can make up for a lot if you know how to use the water to your advantage, and there’s always luck with waves, we’ve all seen races where last place ends up in 1st because circumstances or conditions happened to occur how they did and someone capitalized on the opportunity. I find that really fun and exciting. I really enjoy tech, even though it’s not my main event. Endurance however is not my thing, I will do them occasionally when conditions are fun and exciting, like downwind, or large ocean conditions, but to me it isn’t worth the slow recovery and poor feeling most of the time. They are both very different talents.
Being able to be explosive, that’s my favorite form of exercise and I’m really good at explosive sports as well. I think it’s also genetic, I’ve always been highly explosive and most research shows you are either born with that muscle type or you’re not. I definitely was, it’s really easy for me to sprint, likewise endurance is extremely difficult for me physically. I’ve had a lot of endurance athletes describe to me an exact opposite experience of my own between the two. And I also just love it and love the training, there’s just something about it, a sort of peace while I’m doing it that is hard to describe, and every day I can’t wait to go sprint again. When you truly enjoy something I think that goes a long way to success because it almost never truly feels like work. I’m really grateful to be able to do what I do each day. I would do it even if competitions disappeared tomorrow, I just like it.
Mit dem Laden des Videos akzeptieren Sie die Datenschutzerklärung von YouTube.
Mehr erfahren
We spoke to Paris Katniss at the ICF SUP World Championships in Sarasota back in 2024.
She had a very strong performance there and booked her first World Title.
You were talking about your qualities as a sprinter. I personally like SUP Sprint Races, they are fast, spectator friendly and easy to organizes. Yet we barely see sprint races being held. Which leads me to a multi teared question:
Why do you think we see so few SUP Sprint Races?
Because it’s still new. Only a few years ago we had exactly zero sprint races outside the occasional surf sprint or pool sprint. The sport is growing and sprint and SUP in general is rapidly picking up in popularity so we will continue to see it grow. It’s also a little difficult to run a sprint race and takes some iterations of the event to get a better understanding of what to do, so race directors need time to get things together. ICF is great because they can hold competitions at locations that have precise start gates, which eventually will become necessary to determine most finishes as we see in olympic canoe and kayak sprint.
Secondly as an ambitious SUP Athlete are you able / interested to diversify your skill set to participate in more races and further your career?
Well I already have a very diverse skill set that is consistently improving, I have competed and done extremely well across many disciplines. The main reason I am able to take international podiums in technical races without training for them specifically is because of that skill set. But if you’re asking if I will compete to win across entirely separate disciplines, my answer is no. The days of “triple crowns” in SUP are extremely numbered. As we get more competitors this is going to push professional athletes to specialize more and more. Just like in track it is not possible to win the 200m sprint and a marathon, or even a 5k, the same is true for SUP. Human physiology doesn’t change with the sport. These different distances utilize entirely different energy systems and training modalities. Also certain genetics make people suited more to one or the other as well. If anything in my future I will probably specialize more, not less. Right now I still do a little of all 3, but mainly weighted towards sprint and some technical, because that’s what I am good at and what I like the most. I don’t enjoy distance or the training for it, and I definitely have my genetics heavily weighted towards sprint, so why suffer to do something you don’t really even enjoy, when you can do what you really enjoy! Probably the thing that excites me most that could be considered somewhat of a diversification is surf sprint. And perhaps SUP surf. I would crush surf sprints and I think do very well in SUP surf, but right now finding these comps is more difficult than flat water sprints. I really hope to see these races grow in number in the future as well. Surf race is a TON of fun!
If we look at the evolution of the SUP Sport, we started with Beach Tech. Races in the Surf and Ocean Long Distance races, it was only in recent years, basically since the ICF started to get involved that we see pure lane sprint races. Thinking about this actually, I can only think of you and Andrii Kaytor as being pure sprinters. I and him are sort of the pioneers in this. Could it be that you guys are a bit ahead of the time here?
We are definitely the first, and certainly not the last. As I said previously, SUP is still a very new sport, so there is a lot to be discovered yet. Another reason less people probably try to do sprint is because its more lucrative to do distance racing and even tech racing than sprint, and many technical races are also middle distance events, with the current size of our sport field its possible to still win in both disciplines at times, but that will change as more and more people enter the sport at a pro level. Prize money is increasing across all disciplines so in future years I think we will see things level out more.
Speaking of time, what is in your future plans. We don’t see an SUP Sprint Races on the Horzizon until the ICF 2025 in Abu Dhabi, and the ISA if it goes through with Peru will be a Beach Race. What is going to keep you buys over the summer. Are you thinking about going to Abu Dhabi and or the ISA?
I absolutely would love to do an ISA sprint, however we have a problem for that in the USA for the qualification, USA surfing so far to my knowledge doesn’t hold a surf sprint to select a surf sprint competitor. So I would have to win a roughly 5k technical race if things remain the same this year. That again, is using an entirely different energy system than a sprint. Possible? If its big wave, well anything is possible in those conditions, you never know, but an actual surf sprint would be much more reliable for selecting a surf sprint competitor. You wouldn’t select a 200m track sprinter from the winner of a 10k foot race, a water sport is no different of course.
This might be the first time they have had specialized athletes available here. Other countries are starting to select specialists for each specific event, and the competition level is rising and specializing further every year, if the USA doesn’t catch up we probably will not be taking home medals that we otherwise would. However more people seem to be becoming aware of this so maybe we see it change in the near future.
Lastly something personal, are doing other water sports? SUP Sprint is Speed, Foiling is speed. Have you tried foiling is this something you are interested in?
I really enjoy SUP surf, so I do plenty of that now when waves are available. I have not tried foiling but I would love to if I get the opportunity!
Thank you very much for your time I am looking forward to continue to cover your SUP Career with the Stand Up Magazin.
Do you like content like this and would like to see more? If so please help us with an online subscription.
Online Subscription
Are you enjoying the content of the Stand Up Magazin?
With a subscription, you help secure the future of Stand Up Magazin.
Become a patron and supporter with your subscription.
Your subscription is an annual contribution and renews automatically.