ISA Reinforces Commitment to Stand-Up Paddle and Paddleboard Disciplines –
Competition will take place November 10-15
A Year of Uncertainty
Since the beginning of 2025, the big question in the SUP community has been: When will the ISA host its World SUP Championships? By midyear, the “when” had turned into: Will the ISA…?
For a brief moment, Peru looked like a strong contender after announcing it as a host for the World Junior Surf Championships. But after months of silence, Peru was off the table. Soon after, a short-lived rumor circulated about California, where USA SUP is holding its national championships in Oceanside. That, too, was not to be.
Given the ISA’s history of inconsistency and late announcements, many in the SUP world had already written off 2025, expecting the next World SUP Championships to be pushed into early 2026.
Back to Surf City El Salvador
In the end, the ISA is returning to familiar ground: Surf City El Salvador.
This will mark the second time El Salvador hosts the WSUPPC, after a successful event in 2019. It will also be the 11th ISA World Championship overall to be staged there — cementing the country’s reputation as a global hub for surfing and paddle sports.
With world-class waves, proven event infrastructure, and a warm relationship between the ISA and El Salvador, the choice seems obvious in hindsight. If the ISA can’t secure another venue, Surf City El Salvador has become the default stage.
Terrible Timing for Athletes
The bigger problem isn’t the venue — it’s the timing.
On September 29th, the ISA gave athletes just 42 days’ notice. That means barely six weeks to ship race boards to Central America, secure flights, and book accommodations. For elite paddlers who already juggle tight budgets and complex travel logistics, this is a nightmare.
To make matters worse, the ICF SUP World Championships in Abu Dhabi will take place only one week earlier. Many top athletes have already locked in their flights and itineraries for Abu Dhabi months in advance. Expecting them to pivot immediately to El Salvador is unrealistic — both financially and physically.
And if that weren’t enough, the European SUP League (ESL), run by the European Surfing Federation (itself affiliated with the ISA), will hold its season finale in Sesimbra, Portugal during the exact same timeframe.
A Crowded and Confusing Calendar
The ICF is expecting a big turn out from Senior paddlers to elite paddlers. Many elites have booked their flights to Abu Dhabi and back to from where ever they are from. Now a week later, will they have the time and means to just fly to another world championships? We know the athletes in our sport don’t have unlimited funds and who knows, who will have the means in the time to change their itinerary on such short notice?
On top of that, the European Surfing Federation’s European SUP League (ESL) is hosting an event in Sesimbra, Portugal as part of their season finale during the same time.
Add the possibility of the APP Tour jumping in with their own late-season event, and you have a recipe for chaos.
Final Thoughts
It is amazing to see that ISA is giving us this short of notice and putting their championships right behind the ICF Worlds for which the athletes had plenty time to prepare. But not only that, the ISA is scheduling their event on top the European SUP League season finale who is a subsidiary of the European Surf Federation who is also a subsidiary of the ISA.
We once harbored the hope that some day the SUP Sport will reach an international unified level. Like in a way all other professional sports are. Given the three images above we seriously start loosing hope this day will arrive some time soon. The ICF is advertising their event with a picture of a leisure paddler with an inflatable on the beach. They call SUP Board boats and hold the Championships far off the gird from the SUP World. The ESL is another organization in competition to the well established EURO TOUR confusing the race schedule in Europe. All we are missing now is the APP to jump back in with their own Championships. Why not November 6th, that date is still be available.
Take a trip down memory lane to one of the greatest ISA SUP Champs the world has ever seen.
Mit dem Laden des Videos akzeptieren Sie die Datenschutzerklärung von YouTube.
Mehr erfahren