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The 2023 ICF Stand Up Paddling (SUP) World Championships kicked off in Pattaya, Thailand, on Wednesday with the preliminary races, the fourth such event of the International Canoe Federation (ICF) after Chingtao, China, Balatonfüred, Hungary, and Gdynia in Poland.
The five-day event will award medals in sprint, long distance, and technical categories in junior, open, and masters age groups. This year’s most important event for the discipline will feature seven Hungarian competitors.
According to the Hungarian federation, Csillag Kocsis and Zénó Szabó will compete in all three rigid SUP categories in the junior category, as will Réka Slekta in the open. Balázs Szili will compete in the 40+ age group, while Zsolt Pető and Gábor Szabó will compete in the 50+ age group. In the open competition for inflatable boards, Szili, Pető, Gábor Szabó, and Zénó will be joined by Annamária Uracs.
Noémi Horváth, Chair of the ICF SUP Committee, will act as the competition director of the World Championships.
“We cannot complain about the location, the hotel is only 150 meters from the part of the coast where the technical and long distance races will take place,” the Hungarian federation’s website quoted Dávid Tóth, the head coach of the SUP section in Hungary. “The humidity here is very high, which the competitors have to deal with. There is no strong wind, however, and the conditions for training in the morning and late afternoon were excellent. The water is not so wavy either, I would probably compare it to the Adriatic Sea when it is not too windy.”
Pattaya, Thailand. Photo via Wikipedia
On Wednesday, the World Championships started with the sprint 200m heats, with the finals taking place on Thursday. On Friday, the long distance will follow, with competitors having to run from the shore around a five-kilometer course.
The inflatable SUPs will do one lap, the juniors and over 50s two, and the open and over 40s three.
The weekend will be dominated by the technical event, with the finals on Sunday after the heats on Saturday. There will be two laps of the 500-meter course, which will be interspersed with a running section.
Via MTI, Featured image via Facebook/Sunova Surfboards