2026 SUP World Championships day 1: Rivera and Korobov fastest in open sprint qualifying
- Published
- 2026-10-14T18:14:29+00:00
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- PaddleStats
Full competition results: ICF Stand Up Paddling World Championships - Sabaudia
Day one of the 2026 ICF Stand Up Paddling World Championships in Sabaudia featured 146 races over 100 metres, covering the sprint preliminary rounds and heats. No medals were awarded. Defending champion Mariecarmen Rivera of Puerto Rico (28.33 seconds) and Lithuania's Vadim Korobov (23.24 seconds) posted the fastest times in the open categories, but the quickest performance of the day came from a junior, Romania's Matei Barbu, in 22.97 seconds. The semi-final line-ups in the championship categories are now set for Friday. Four Polish paddlers qualified in the open events, including Hanna Kamińska, who posted the second-fastest women's time.
Day one in numbers: 146 races, 614 athletes, no medals yet
Wednesday's programme began at 9:00, with the final junior heat scheduled for 18:15. All times in this article are local. The 614 starters included athletes from 49 countries, nine neutral athletes (AIN) and one competitor racing under the Paddle Worldwide flag. They made 1,037 starts between them, with some paddlers contesting several rounds. Spain had the largest team on the water with 89 athletes, followed by Italy with 70 and Greece with 46. Poland had 32 starters.
The women's open field contested a single round. The eight heats were scheduled to start between 12:55 and 13:16, with the top four in each advancing to Friday's semi-finals. Just 0.12 seconds separated the three fastest women, who raced in different heats.
| Open women's sprint, fastest heat times | Country | Time (s) | Heat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mariecarmen Rivera | Puerto Rico | 28.33 | 2 |
| Hanna Kamińska | Poland | 28.39 | 7 |
| Cecilia Pampinella | Italy | 28.45 | 5 |
| Seychelle Webster | United States | 29.09 | 7 |
| Alba Alonso Frey | Spain | 29.11 | 4 |
| Marta Apanasewicz | Poland | 29.32 | 8 |
The quickest women's time on Lago di Paola was more than a second slower than the winning times in September's finals in Agios Nikolaos. Comparisons across venues and rounds need caution, but familiar names were once again at the front.
Women's sprint: just 0.12 seconds separate Rivera, Kamińska and Pampinella
Kamińska won heat 7, scheduled for 13:13, in 28.39 seconds. She finished 0.70 seconds ahead of Seychelle Webster of the United States, who has won a sprint medal at each of the past three World Championships: gold in 2023, silver in 2024, bronze in 2025. Annabel Page of Great Britain was third.
Only Rivera posted a faster time. The defending champion won heat 2 in 28.33 seconds, ahead of Germany's Skadi Langbein in 29.88 seconds and Japan's Rika Okuaki. Cecilia Pampinella, who won the European and World Cup sprints in Agios Nikolaos in September, won heat 5 in 28.45 seconds in front of a home crowd.
Marta Apanasewicz won the final heat of the session, heat 8, in 29.32 seconds, ahead of Spain's Amelia Moral in 29.61 seconds. That was the sixth-fastest time of the heats.
Born in 2007, Kamińska was still competing as a junior last year, when she won sprint bronze at the World Championships in Abu Dhabi. In September, she finished runner-up to Pampinella in both Agios Nikolaos sprint finals, missing World Cup gold by just 0.060 seconds. On Wednesday, her time was 0.06 seconds faster than the Italian's, although they raced in different heats. We covered both September races in our preview of the championships.
Of the eight heat winners, Rivera was the quickest and Spain's Duna Gordillo the slowest in 31.10 seconds. Gordillo, the technical race silver medallist in Abu Dhabi, appears on the organiser's lists under her second surname, Rodríguez.
Friday's semi-finals: Kamińska at 10:59, Apanasewicz at 11:02
The women's semi-finals start at 10:53. The top two in each will qualify for the A final at 16:00. Third and fourth will progress to the B final, and fifth and sixth to the C final.
Kamińska is in semi-final 3 with Langbein, Gordillo and Hungary's Csillag Kocsis. She posted the quickest heat time of the eight paddlers in that semi-final, followed by Langbein with 29.88 seconds.
Judging by the heat times, Apanasewicz faces the tougher draw. Semi-final 4 includes Webster (29.09 seconds), Alba Alonso Frey of Spain (29.11 seconds) and Okuaki (30.02 seconds). Only two will qualify for the A final. Rivera is in semi-final 2 and Pampinella in semi-final 1, keeping the three fastest qualifiers apart for the next round. If all three progress, they will meet in the A final at 16:00.
Men's sprint: Korobov fastest, three world champions through
Twenty seeded paddlers bypassed the preliminary rounds and entered the competition in the afternoon heats. The rest began at 9:00, with the top five from each of eleven first-round races advancing to the second preliminary round. After those two rounds came seven main heats. The top three in each, plus the three fastest fourth-place finishers, qualified for the three semi-finals.
| Open men's sprint, fastest heat times | Country | Time (s) | Heat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vadim Korobov | Lithuania | 23.24 | 1 |
| Sergio Cantoral | Spain | 23.49 | 3 |
| Manuel Hoyuela | Spain | 23.64 | 1 |
| Aarón Sánchez | Spain | 24.01 | 4 |
| Cameron Tripney | South Africa | 24.07 | 6 |
Korobov, the 2025 sprint silver medallist, won heat 1 in 23.24 seconds. Manuel Hoyuela, seeded first, was second in 23.64 seconds. Defending champion Sergio Cantoral won heat 3 in 23.49 seconds, 1.10 seconds ahead of Connor Baxter.
Three of the four previous ICF men's sprint world champions reached the semi-finals: Cantoral, Baxter and Garioud. Baxter, the 2019 and 2022 champion, won his races in both preliminary rounds, in 24.09 seconds and 24.80 seconds, then finished second to Cantoral. Noïc Garioud of France, champion in 2021 and 2023, won all three of his races and took heat 2 in 24.49 seconds. The 2024 champion, Andrii Kraitor, was entered in the first preliminary round but did not start. Japan's Shuri Araki, the long-distance world champion at the past two editions, did not start in the sprint either.
The fastest open time of the preliminary rounds was set by Aarón Sánchez, the defending technical race champion: 23.31 seconds in the first round. He won his next two races as well.
Spain accounts for eight of the 24 men and eight of the 32 women in the open semi-finals. No other country has more than three qualifiers in either event.
Two Poles in the semi-finals
Mikołaj Majdan, one of the 20 seeded men (listed with seed number 25), was third in heat 3 in 25.36 seconds, behind Cantoral and Baxter. He will race in semi-final 2 at 11:11 with Hoyuela, Garioud and Greece's Phaedon Doukas.
Maciej Bartos came through three races to qualify. He finished third in his first preliminary race in 25.16 seconds, second in his next in 26.12 seconds, and second behind Doukas in heat 5 in 25.24 seconds. In semi-final 3 at 11:14 he meets Cantoral, Christian Andersen of Denmark and Cameron Tripney of South Africa.
The top two in each men's semi-final, plus the two fastest third-place finishers, will qualify for the A final at 16:10. Krystian Świerkowski reached the heats but was sixth in heat 4 in 27.22 seconds. Piotr Hertel went out in the second preliminary round.
Junior Barbu sets the fastest time of the day
Barbu, born in 2008, produced the quickest performance across all categories. He won his second preliminary race in 22.97 seconds and his main heat in 23.17 seconds, both faster than Korobov's open-leading 23.24 seconds. Germany's Marlon Daskiran also beat Korobov's time, posting 23.20 seconds in the second preliminary round.
In September Barbu won the open sprint at the European Championships in Agios Nikolaos, 0.126 seconds ahead of Korobov. In Sabaudia he races in the junior class, so the two will not meet. Barbu's semi-final is on Friday morning, with the junior men's A final scheduled for 15:50.
None of Poland's junior men reached the semi-finals. Miłosz Sytnik, seeded first, finished sixth in heat 1 in 28.34 seconds, in a race won by Daskiran in 23.95 seconds. Kacper Jaroc was sixth in heat 3. Michał Wojciechowski came through both preliminary rounds and was fourth in heat 6 in 29.03 seconds, but missed out on one of the three qualifying places available to the fastest fourth-place finishers.
Poland fared better in the junior women's event, with three of its five starters progressing: Martyna Drobny was third in heat 7 in 32.60 seconds, Emilia Daszewska second in heat 6 in 33.06 seconds and Lena Nowak fourth in heat 8 in 33.35 seconds. The fastest junior woman was Spain's Nuria Chiquero in 29.53 seconds, ahead of Greece's Ioanna Papadimitriou, who won the World Cup junior sprint in September, and Czechia's Pavlina Kankova, both in 29.69 seconds. The defending junior champion, Italy's Claudia Postiglione, won heat 2 in 30.21 seconds.
Masters: familiar winners as Luchetta sets the women's pace
Several leading masters paddlers won their heats, including reigning world champions and winners from September's races in Agios Nikolaos. Germany's Manuel Lauble went through two preliminary rounds in the 40+ class and won his heat in 26.99 seconds. Peter Weidert, the 50+ champion, won all three of his races. Greece's Penny Tsaoutou and Canada's Edith Turcotte won 50+ heats, while Italy's Claudia Luchetta won her 40+ heat in 32.73 seconds, the fastest time of the day among the masters women. Luchetta also won September's 40+ sprint in Agios Nikolaos, although no official European title was awarded in that category because too few countries were represented.
Poland's Małgorzata Cieplińska won 40+ women's heat 2 in 33.69 seconds, and Malwina Grochowska qualified as one of the fastest fourth-place finishers. Paweł Traczewski won his 50+ first-round race and was second in the next, then finished fifth in his heat and went out.
What's next: technical heats on Thursday, sprint finals on Friday
Thursday brings 105 technical races over a 900-metre course with buoy turns. The women's open heats are scheduled to start between 14:00 and 14:35 local time. Kamińska starts in heat 1 at 14:00 and Apanasewicz in heat 8 at 14:35. Majdan is seeded ninth in the technical race and goes straight into Saturday's heats.
The sprint returns on Friday. Women's semi-finals start at 10:53, men's at 11:08, and the open finals are at 16:00 and 16:10. The technical competition continues on Saturday with further rounds, including the men's open heats, semi-finals and finals. The 11.5 km long-distance races follow on Sunday. After Sabaudia the ranking season ends with the SUP Cup Kemer 2026 from 28 October.
For more on the September races, read our reports on the European Championships and the World Cup technical finals.
Frequently asked questions
When are the sprint finals at the 2026 SUP World Championships?
On Friday 16 October in Sabaudia. The open women's final is at 16:00 and the open men's final at 16:10 local time, after semi-finals in the morning.
Did Hanna Kamińska and Marta Apanasewicz reach the semi-finals?
Yes. Both won their heats on Wednesday. Kamińska clocked 28.39 seconds in heat 7 and Apanasewicz 29.32 seconds in heat 8. On Friday Kamińska races semi-final 3 at 10:59 and Apanasewicz semi-final 4 at 11:02.
Who was the fastest athlete on the first day?
Romania's Matei Barbu, a junior born in 2008, with 22.97 seconds in the second preliminary round. The fastest open man was Vadim Korobov with 23.24 seconds, and the fastest open woman Mariecarmen Rivera with 28.33 seconds.
Is Kamińska a contender for a sprint medal?
Her second-fastest heat time puts her among the medal contenders, although times from separate races do not guarantee the same order in a final. Her time of 28.39 seconds was 0.06 seconds behind Rivera and 0.06 seconds ahead of Pampinella, and Webster, fourth-fastest, was 0.70 seconds slower. Heats are only the first step, though: she still needs a top-two place in her semi-final.
Did every past men's sprint world champion race?
No. Andrii Kraitor, the 2024 champion, did not start. The other three, Connor Baxter, Noïc Garioud and Sergio Cantoral, all reached the semi-finals.
Did Spain dominate qualifying?
Spain had the largest team on the water and put eight men and eight women into the open semi-finals. It did not have the fastest heat time in either class: those belonged to Korobov and Rivera.
How did the Polish team do on day one?
Thirty-two Polish paddlers started, and nine reached the semi-finals: Kamińska, Apanasewicz, Majdan, Bartos, three junior women and two 40+ women. None of the Polish junior men qualified.
What is on Thursday's programme?
The technical race over 900 metres, with 105 races including the open women's heats from 14:00.
Mariecarmen Rivera and Vadim Korobov go into Friday's semi-finals with the fastest open times of the heats. The three fastest women race in three different semi-finals, and three previous men's sprint world champions remain in contention: Cantoral, Baxter and Garioud. The open sprint finals of the ICF SUP World Championships are on Friday: women at 16:00, men at 16:10.