2026 SUP World Championships day 3: Pampinella and Korobov win sprint world titles

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2026-10-16T16:40:27+00:00

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PaddleStats

Full competition results: ICF Stand Up Paddling World Championships - Sabaudia

Cecilia Pampinella and Vadim Korobov claimed the 100 m sprint world titles on Friday, both defeating the defending champions. On day three of the 2026 ICF Stand Up Paddling World Championships in Sabaudia, Italy's Pampinella beat Mariecarmen Rivera, while Lithuania's Korobov reversed last year's result against Sergio Cantoral. Poland celebrated two medals: bronze for Hanna Kamińska in the open women and silver for Małgorzata Cieplińska in the women's 40+ category.

All sprint medals decided on Friday

Friday's programme on Lago di Paola featured 78 races, from the children's heats scheduled for 9:00 to the women's foil race at 16:35. A total of 290 athletes took part: paddlers representing 39 countries and two neutral athletes (AIN). They made 587 starts between them, excluding entries marked DNS — athletes who did not start. The morning semi-finals were followed by sprint finals across the open, junior and masters 40+ and 50+ categories. Children raced separately in the U12 and U15 divisions. All times in this article are local to Sabaudia.

Eight championship A finals produced nine gold medallists. Germany's Manuel Lauble and Argentina's Lucas Correa tied for first in the men's 40+ final in 25.80 seconds. Both were crowned world champions, with no silver medal awarded.

The medal table covers the open, junior and masters sprint finals, excluding children's races and foil. Seventeen countries won medals, and nine claimed gold. Canada's three medals all came in the masters categories: two in the men's 50+ and one in the women's 50+.

All 16 open A-finalists — eight men and eight women — recorded slower times in the afternoon than in their morning semi-finals. Cantoral, for example, won his semi-final in 22.16 seconds before clocking 24.05 seconds in the final. The results alone do not establish the reason for that difference. Time differences in this article are calculated from the published results to two decimal places.

Open women: Pampinella takes gold, Rivera settles for silver

Rivera won last year's sprint title in Abu Dhabi in 29.22 seconds, ahead of Alba Alonso Frey and Seychelle Webster. The Puerto Rican clocked a quicker 28.90 seconds in Sabaudia but had to settle for silver. The times come from separate championships and should not be treated as a direct measure of improved form.

Cecilia Pampinella won in 28.69 seconds, 0.21 seconds ahead of Rivera. After taking sprint gold at both the European Championships and World Cup in Agios Nikolaos in September, she added the world title on home water.

The semi-finals had set up a closely contested medal race. Pampinella (28.02 seconds), Rivera (28.06 seconds), Kamińska (28.09 seconds) and Webster (28.17 seconds) won their respective races, with just 0.15 seconds separating them. In the final, Webster finished fifth, one place behind last year's runner-up Alonso Frey.

Rivera's fellow Abu Dhabi medallists also recorded quicker times than last year. Alonso Frey clocked 29.64 seconds compared with 29.81 seconds, and Webster 29.69 seconds compared with 30.42 seconds. Neither returned to the podium: Kamińska took bronze in 28.96 seconds.

Kamińska follows junior bronze with an open medal

Kamińska missed silver by just 0.06 seconds. Born in 2007, she competed as a junior at last year's World Championships, taking sprint bronze in 32.63 seconds. Her time in Sabaudia was 3.67 seconds quicker, although the races took place at different venues. She had already posted the second-fastest open women's time in Wednesday's heats (28.39 seconds) before winning semi-final 3 on Friday morning.

Kamińska took silver behind Pampinella at both the European Championships and World Cup in Agios Nikolaos in September. In Sabaudia, she finished 0.27 seconds behind the Italian.

Poland's other open women's semi-finalist, Marta Apanasewicz, finished eighth in semi-final 4 in 48.52 seconds and did not advance to any of the finals.

Open men: Korobov takes Cantoral's title

Vadim Korobov won in 23.31 seconds, beating Cantoral by 0.74 seconds. The order was reversed in Abu Dhabi last year, when the Spaniard took gold in 23.92 seconds, just 0.07 seconds ahead of the Lithuanian. This time the margin was more than ten times as large.

Korobov, born in 1997, had been among the quickest paddlers throughout the competition. He topped the open men's heat times on Wednesday with 23.24 seconds, won semi-final 1 on Friday in 22.75 seconds and was the only man to break 24 seconds in the final.

Cantoral posted the fastest open men's semi-final time at 22.16 seconds. He was slower in the final but still secured silver, then went on to finish third in the foil competition. His foil race was scheduled for 16:30, 20 minutes after the start of the sprint final.

South Africa's Cameron Tripney finished second to Cantoral in semi-final 3 in 22.72 seconds, followed by Denmark's Christian Andersen in 23.13 seconds. Their order was reversed in the final, with Andersen fifth and Tripney sixth.

Manuel Hoyuela claimed bronze, edging fourth-placed Noïc Garioud by 0.05 seconds. Aarón Sánchez, who had finished second to Korobov in their semi-final in 22.95 seconds, placed eighth in the final.

Spain had three paddlers in the men's Final A and took two medals. Another Spaniard, Unax Etxeberria, won Final B in 23.84 seconds, quicker than the silver-medal time in Final A. Times from a separate race, however, do not affect the medal placings. Spain also won the women's Final B through Amelia Moral, who clocked 29.22 seconds.

Poland's two open men's semi-finalists went on to contest Final C. Mikołaj Majdan finished third in 24.76 seconds and Maciej Bartos fifth in 24.88 seconds.

Juniors, masters, children and foil: gold for Barbu, silver for Cieplińska

Barbu claims the junior world title

Matei Barbu won the junior men's final in 23.74 seconds, improving on his silver medal behind Greece's Andreas Kiousis Voulgaris in Abu Dhabi last year, when he clocked 25.54 seconds. His semi-final time of 22.15 seconds was Friday's quickest in conventional SUP sprint, 0.01 seconds faster than Cantoral. In the final, Barbu's winning time was 0.31 seconds quicker than Cantoral's silver-medal time in the open race, though the two finals took place at different times of the afternoon.

Germany's Marlon Daskiran took silver in 23.96 seconds, with Portugal's Lourenço Viveiros claiming bronze in 24.14 seconds.

Czechia's Pavlína Kaňková won the junior women's title in 30.14 seconds, ahead of Greece's Ioanna Papadimitriou in 30.47 seconds and Spain's Nuria Chiquero in 30.93 seconds. Poland's Emilia Daszewska and Martyna Drobny contested Final C, finishing fourth and sixth respectively.

Masters: silver for Cieplińska, gold by 0.03 seconds

Cieplińska won semi-final 2 in the women's 40+ category in 33.19 seconds. She went on to take silver in 34.90 seconds behind the Netherlands' Petronella van Malsen, who clocked 34.44 seconds. Peru's Giannisa Vecco took bronze in 35.05 seconds, while Poland's Malwina Grochowska finished sixth in 37.09 seconds.

Just three hundredths of a second decided the women's 50+ title. Great Britain's Ginnie Betts won in 35.49 seconds, 0.03 seconds ahead of Canada's Edith Turcotte. Greece's Penny Tsaoutou took bronze.

That final had nine starters after France's Fabienne Levallois and Hungary's Rita Kosa tied for third in semi-final 1 in 35.52 seconds, earning both a place in Final A. Kosa finished sixth in the final and Levallois ninth.

Canada secured a one-two in the men's 50+ final. Chris Stringer took gold in 27.12 seconds and Tommy Buday silver in 27.36 seconds. Kazakhstan's Zhomart Satubaldin finished just 0.03 seconds behind Buday to claim bronze.

Japan's Ryohei Yoshida completed the men's 40+ podium, finishing 0.10 seconds behind joint champions Lauble and Correa.

Children: three Polish boys in the U15 Final A

Greece's Nikolaos Butsadakis won the U15 boys' final in 26.13 seconds, a commanding 2.91 seconds ahead of the runner-up. Three Polish paddlers reached Final A: Wiktor Jaroc finished fourth in 30.93 seconds, Igor Iwanek seventh in 31.57 seconds and Albert Szumera eighth in 31.59 seconds.

Poland's Maja Bauerek won her heat and semi-final in the U15 girls' event but narrowly missed a medal, finishing fourth in the final, just 0.03 seconds outside the podium. Greece's Dimitra Papadimitriou won in 32.51 seconds.

Greece won two of the four children's titles, both in the U15 division. Four Polish paddlers contested the children's A finals, but none won a medal.

Argentina's Felicitas Guida won the U12 girls' final in 35.97 seconds, while the Netherlands' Tije van Bakel took the boys' title in 33.76 seconds. Van Bakel won all three of his races.

Foil: Araki fastest, Cantoral third

The day concluded with racing on hydrofoil boards. The men's field was split into three heats, with times combined into a single overall ranking. Japan's Shuri Araki was fastest in 17.36 seconds, ahead of compatriot Rai Taguchi in 19.78 seconds and Cantoral in 19.86 seconds. Spain's Iballa Moreno won the women's race in 27.72 seconds.

What's next: technical race finals on Saturday, long distance on Sunday

Thirty-two seeded open men enter the technical competition on Saturday morning, including Cantoral and defending champion Sánchez. The course is approximately 900 metres long. The open women's semi-finals begin at 14:20, with Kamińska facing Pampinella and Rivera again in semi-final 3 at 14:30. Only two paddlers will advance from that race to Final A. The open women's A final is scheduled for 17:45 and the men's for 17:55.

Sunday brings the long-distance races, over approximately 12 km according to the organiser's final information bulletin. The current schedule has the open men starting at 13:30 and the open women at 13:35.

Catch up on the earlier days: day 1, sprint heats and day 2, technical race heats. Our championships preview covered Rivera's defence of three titles. Last year's results are on the Abu Dhabi World Championships page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who won the 2026 SUP sprint world titles?

Italy's Cecilia Pampinella won the open women's 100 m title in 28.69 seconds, while Lithuania's Vadim Korobov took the open men's title in 23.31 seconds. The finals took place on 16 October in Sabaudia.

Did Mariecarmen Rivera defend her sprint title?

No. Her time of 28.90 seconds was quicker than the 29.22 seconds she recorded in last year's Abu Dhabi final, but she finished 0.21 seconds behind Pampinella and took silver.

How did Korobov do at the previous world championships?

In Abu Dhabi in 2025 he took silver, 0.07 seconds behind Cantoral. In Sabaudia he beat the same rival by 0.74 seconds.

Why are there two men's 40+ world champions?

Manuel Lauble and Lucas Correa recorded identical times of 25.80 seconds. Both received gold and no silver was awarded in that race.

How many medals did Poland win in the sprint?

Two: bronze for Hanna Kamińska in the open women's race and silver for Małgorzata Cieplińska in the women's 40+ category. Maja Bauerek and Wiktor Jaroc both finished fourth in U15 finals, with Bauerek missing bronze by just 0.03 seconds.

Is Matei Barbu already faster than the senior men?

He posted Friday's fastest time in conventional SUP sprint: 22.15 seconds in the junior semi-final, 0.01 seconds quicker than Cantoral. Korobov was faster in the finals, winning the open title in 23.31 seconds, 0.43 seconds quicker than Barbu's junior winning time. These were separate races, so the times alone cannot settle how the two would compare head-to-head.

When are the technical race and long distance finals?

The technical A finals take place on Saturday 17 October: open women at 17:45 and open men at 17:55. Sunday's long-distance course is approximately 12 km, according to the organiser's bulletin, with the open men scheduled to start at 13:30 and the open women at 13:35.

Sabaudia crowned two new open sprint champions as Pampinella and Korobov defeated Rivera and Cantoral. A year after winning junior bronze, Hanna Kamińska reached the open podium. She will face Pampinella and Rivera again at 14:30 on Saturday, this time in a technical semi-final. Full results are available on the 2026 ICF SUP World Championships page.

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