Team Australia are three-time World Team Champions. They won 8 of the 12 Gold Medals earning them the overall Team Gold Medal and the World Team Champion Trophy.
Lake Nicaragua played host to the 2014 ISA World StandUp Paddle and Paddleboard Championship, which greeted all nations with beautiful and hot weather in which to crown the World Champions. In the Paddleboard Technical Races, which were the first of the final day, Australia’s Jordan Mercer and Rhys Burrows won the gold medals. The SUP Technical Races followed, and Australia’s Shakira Westdorp and Denmark’s Casper Steinfath picked up their respective gold medals. The final event of the day was the ISA Relay, which Australia won.
“The 2014 ISA World SUP and Paddleboard Championship has been a total success, with the largest number of competitors in history. The event has grown from about 150 last year to nearly 250 in just one year, and it is now officially closed,” concluded ISA President Fernando Aguerre.
In Team Nicaragua’s first ever participation in the event, they placed 11th. Most of the athletes started training in this discipline less than a month ago with the athletes coming from other disciplines such as canoeing, rowing, and swimming. This shows the dedication and determination to defend their home court.
The final day of competition kicked off with the Women’s Paddleboard Technical Race Final, where Aussie and undefeated ISA World Champion, Jordan Mercer (31:54) achieved yet another gold medal defeating USA’s Silver Medalist, Carter Graves (33:01), Spain’s Bronze Medalist, Itziar Abascal (33:27), and New Zealand’s Copper Medalist, Ashley Cochrane (34:42). Girl’s on fire!
As a point of contrast, the Men’s SUP Technical Race Final was a nail-biting showdown. 11 racers were quickly separated from the rest of the pack after the event started. The American, Slater Trout, led the pack until Mexico’s Fernando Stalla overtook him. The Mexican racer was going for gold, so to speak, but in the last lap, he took a fall while rounding a buoy and lost the lead. While Trout and Stalla were battling it out for the lead, the defending Champion, Casper Steinfath (DEN), waited for his moment to strike with the energy he had conserved all race. After rounding the final buoy, Steinfath was in a full sprint and was able to overtake the lead and defend his gold medal.
“I have so many emotions goings through my body right now,” said an exuberant Steinfath. “I came into the race and paddled my hardest against the best in the world and I’m honored to get my second Gold Medal in two years. It’s just unreal, I never dreamt of this. I was so nervous before this race so it’s nice to get the pressure off my shoulders. Once you are in the water it’s just pure commitment and fun. I especially want to thank the ISA, it’s fantastic to be here.” Behind Steinfath came Australia’s Lincoln Dews who won the Silver Medal (29:23), USA’s Slater Trout took the Bronze (29:26), and Eric Terrien won the Copper Medal (29:39).
The ISA Relay Race wrapped things up featuring the top eight teams. After a hard-fought battle, Australia finished in first followed by United States, Spain, Brazil, Peru, South Africa, Mexico and Venezuela.
Here are full contest results.
Overall team results:
1. Australia – 16,750
2. USA – 13,100
3. Brazil – 10,667
4. Spain – 10,501
5. France – 9,532
6. Mexico – 9,398
7. South Africa – 9,032
8. Peru – 8,671
9. Venezuela – 8,266
10. New Zealand – 8,261
11. Nicaragua – 7,527
12. Great Britain – 7,360
13. Guatemala – 6,234
14. Canada – 6,180
15. Denmark – 5,053
16. Costa Rica – 3,870
17. Ireland – 2,670
18. Italy – 2,300
19. El Salvador – 2,080
19. Tahiti – 2,080
21. Chile – 1,870
22. Latvia – 1,865
23. Germany – 1,560
24. Colombia – 1,360
25. Japan – 1,276
26. Panama – 1,200
27. Barbados – 720
