Australia’s Reign Atop SUP and Paddleboard Continues with Sixth Team Gold Medal

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USA earns overall Silver, France Bronze, and Spain Copper

Australia takes Team Relay Gold; USA earns Silver, New Zealand Bronze, and Denmark Copper

10 countries on all five continents win medals, highlighting international growth of SUP under ISA leadership

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Team Australia continued their reign atop the sports of StandUp Paddle (SUP) and Paddleboard to earn their sixth Gold Medal in seven years at the 2018 ISA World SUP and Paddleboard Championship in Wanning, China.

The Gold Medal for Australia extends their win streak to three in a row and represents a historic first Gold in the event’s history to be awarded in Asia.

Six Golds in seven years for Australia – true SUP and Paddleboard dominance. Photo: ISA / Pablo Jímenez
Six Golds in seven years for Australia – true SUP and Paddleboard dominance. Photo: ISA / Pablo Jímenez

“We really wanted to win the relay and we came out today and put the nail in the coffin,” said Australia’s Team Captain Shakira Westdorp.

“We have a lot of fun and put the hard work in the water. We are great friends and you can’t manufacture that. I think that is why we keep on winning the overall team points.”

USA earned the overall Silver Medal, their best finish since earning the Gold in 2015, Team France earned the Bronze, and Team Spain earned the Copper.

Team Australia put the icing on the cake with a Relay Race Gold Medal on Sunday, followed by USA with the Silver, New Zealand with the Bronze, and Denmark with the Copper.

In a great display of the ISA’s push for the global growth of SUP, ten nations from all five continents – the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania – earned individual medals throughout the week of competition.

Australia’s dominant performance was buoyed by five individual Gold Medals from Westdorp (SUP Surfing), Grace Rosato (Paddleboard Technical and Distance Races), Lachie Lansdown (Paddleboard Technical Race) and Michael Booth (SUP Distance Race). To go along with the five Golds, Australia earned eight other individual medals from star athletes such as Terrene Black, Sam McCullough, and Harry Maskell.

Rosato shined as the only athlete to take two Golds and Westdorp showed her versatility by winning medals across two disciplines (SUP Surfing Gold and SUP Distance Race Bronze).

Harry Maskell, Team Australia’s Anchor, finishes off the relay for his nation. Photo: ISA / Pablo Jímenez
Harry Maskell, Team Australia’s Anchor, finishes off the relay for his nation. Photo: ISA / Pablo Jímenez

Team USA, the only nation to ever dethrone Australia (2015 in Mexico), was the only competitor to threaten Australia for the pole position.

USA came up short with the Silver, but their young contingent of medalists 18 years and under shows a promising future and a changing of the guard for Team USA.

18-year-old Ryan Funk and 16-year-old Jade Howson swept the Gold Medals for USA in the SUP Technical Race Junior Divisions, while 15-year-old Kailyn Winters earned the Bronze in the Women’s Paddleboard Distance Race.

The final day of competition at Shenzhou Peninsula featured the Relay Race, where 14 nations competed in a four-lap course that features a man and woman each from the SUP and Paddleboard disciplines to comprise a team of four.

Each athlete took a turn in the relay, navigating around the buoys before sprinting up the beach to tag their teammate into the race.

Team Australia emerged victorious, followed by USA with the Silver.

Bronze came down to a final, thrilling sprint between New Zealand’s Trevor Tunnington and Denmark’s Casper Steinfath. Tunnington edged out Steinfath by fractions of a second to take the Bronze for his nation, leaving the Copper for Denmark.

Team Australia celebrates the Relay Gold that solidified their spot atop the team rankings. Photo: ISA / Sean Evans
Team Australia celebrates the Relay Gold that solidified their spot atop the team rankings. Photo: ISA / Sean Evans

ISA Vice President and five-time ISA Gold Medalist Casper Steinfath (DEN) addressed the crowd at the Closing Ceremony:

“To all the new world champions, enjoy your days in paradise. Never forget what it feels like to win – whether it’s Gold, Silver, Bronze, Copper – or just completing that brutal long distance in the heat yesterday.

“And to all of you who, like me, have no shining medals today, these ISA Worlds are much more than just finding new World Champions. It is a time to meet and greet old and new friends. It is a time to build new bridges across cultures. It is a time to have fun and to cheer for everyone.

“I can tell you that the ISA is committed to SUP for the long run and all together, let’s continue to make this sport the best in the world.”

ISA President Fernando Aguerre said:

“That is a wrap for another incredible edition of the ISA World SUP and Paddleboard Championship.

“We witnessed the world coming together in peace through the shared love of SUP and Paddleboard, which was a beautiful thing.

“The ISA has historically crowned World Champions since 2012 and has developed the sport from the grassroots level, which we witnessed this week with the participation of new nations such as China, Chinese Taipei, and Iran.

“Also importantly, we saw three athletes qualify for four slots between SUP Surfing and SUP Racing this week for SUP’s debut in the 2019 Pan Am Games in Lima, which will be the biggest milestone for the sport to date when the best from the America’s gather in Peru next year.

“The ISA is fully committed to growing the sport of SUP and we will continue pushing for the sport’s inclusion in the Olympic Games, hopefully as soon as Paris 2024.”

Grace Rosato built a strong lead for Australia on her leg of the relay. Photo: ISA / Pablo Jímenez
Grace Rosato built a strong lead for Australia on her leg of the relay. Photo: ISA / Pablo Jímenez

Team Relay
Gold – Australia
Silver – USA
Bronze – New Zealand
Copper – Denmark

Overall Team Ranking
Gold – Australia
Silver – USA
Bronze – France
Copper – Spain
5 – New Zealand
6 – Japan
7 – Italy
8 – Denmark
9 – South Africa
10 – Great Britain

To view full team ranking, click here.

About The International Surfing Association:

The International Surfing Association (ISA), founded in 1964, is recognized by the International Olympic Committee as the World Governing Authority for Surfing. The ISA governs and defines Surfing as Shortboard, Longboard & Bodyboarding, StandUp Paddle (SUP) Racing and Surfing, Bodysurfing, Wakesurfing, and all other wave riding activities on any type of waves, and on flat water using wave riding equipment. The ISA crowned its first Men's and Women's World Champions in 1964. It crowned the first Big Wave World Champion in 1965; World Junior Champion in 1980; World Kneeboard Champions in 1982; World Longboard Surfing and World Bodyboard Champions in 1988; World Tandem Surfing Champions in 2006; World Masters Champions in 2007; and World StandUp Paddle (SUP, both surfing and racing) and Paddleboard Champions in 2012.

ISA membership includes the surfing National Federations of 104 countries on five continents. The ISA is presided over by Fernando Aguerre (ARG). The Executive Committee includes four Vice-Presidents Karín Sierralta (PER), Kirsty Coventry (ZIM), Casper Steinfath (DEN) and Barbara Kendall (NZL), Athletes' Commission Chair Justine Dupont (FRA), Regular Members Atsushi Sakai (JPN) and Jean Luc Arassus (FRA) and ISA Executive Director Robert Fasulo as Ex-officio Member.

Its headquarters are located in La Jolla, California (USA).

For more information, please visit www.isasurf.org