SUP World Cup 2026 Agios Nikolaos: Greece Takes Five of Eight Technical Finals
- Published
- 2026-09-24T09:57:06+00:00
- Author
- PaddleStats
Kyriaki Logotheti won the open women's technical race on the final day of the 2026 ICF SUP World Cup in Agios Nikolaos, as Greece won five of the eight finals contested on Wednesday. The hosts finished the four-day event at the top of the medal table with nine golds. Poland's Marta Apanasewicz took bronze in the same final, her second medal of the week.
Overview
Racing in the Gulf of Mirabello covered three disciplines over four days: the 14 km long-distance race on Sunday, the 100 m sprint on Tuesday and the technical race on Wednesday. Monday was a rest day. Seventy-two medals were awarded across 24 finals, with athletes from thirteen nations reaching the podium.
| Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greece | 9 | 5 | 7 | 21 |
| Italy | 6 | 10 | 3 | 19 |
| Romania | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| Portugal | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| Denmark | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Greece and Italy won 15 of the 24 events between them. Italy collected 19 medals, including six golds and ten silvers — more silvers than any other nation. Greece finished with 21 medals, nine of them gold. Five of those victories came on the final day.
Wednesday was the hosts' most successful day. Greece won the technical finals in the open women's, 40+ men's, 50+ women's, junior men's and junior women's categories, adding three silvers and a bronze. That gave the hosts nine of the 24 medals awarded that day.
The opening day had belonged to other nations. Sunday's 14 km long-distance race counted towards both the World Cup and the European Championships. Cecilia Pampinella won the open women's race in 1:31:19.705 ahead of her compatriot Claudia Postiglione, with Natalia Novitskaia, competing as an Individual Neutral Athlete, third. Christian Andersen won the open men's race in 1:18:52.773, finishing 59.042 s ahead of Spain's Manuel Hoyuela Rojas.
Anastasios Tsouris finished third in 1:19:59.724. He was the only Greek man to win a medal in the open category, reaching the podium twice: in Sunday's long-distance race and Wednesday's technical race. He did not contest the sprint.
Trends and comparisons
One of the week's clearest contrasts came between the sprint and technical results. Several athletes contested both finals, but the podiums changed substantially.
In the open women's sprint on Tuesday, Kyriaki Logotheti finished sixth among the eight finalists, 3.720 s behind the winner. Csillag Kocsis was seventh, 3.810 s behind. On Wednesday, they finished first and second in the technical final. Logotheti won in 6:49.171, with Kocsis 12.925 s behind. Neither of the sprint's top two finishers appeared in the technical final: Cecilia Pampinella, who had won both the long distance and the sprint, did not enter, and Hanna Kamińska, the sprint runner-up, finished tenth among thirteen athletes in the heats and did not start her semi-final.
The men's results showed a similar contrast. Matei Barbu won the 100 m sprint in 22.470 s. Over the technical course he finished seventh of eight, 44.301 s behind the winner. Christian Andersen, fifth in the sprint, won in 5:44.019. Having also won Sunday's long-distance race, he finished with two golds from the three open men's events.
Only one athlete won all three disciplines. Penny Tsaoutou won the 50+ women's long-distance, sprint and technical races in 1:44:05.767, 35.977 s and 7:57.316 respectively. Nobody else at Agios Nikolaos won more than two.
Two other athletes also won twice. Ioanna Papadimitriou won the junior women's sprint and technical races, beating Evdoxia Gialama by 5.110 s on Wednesday in an all-Greek one-two. Reza Nasiri of Italy won the 50+ men's long-distance and technical races, finishing the latter 7.180 s ahead of his compatriot Daniele Cani.
Five technical wins for Greece
The breakdown by discipline shows where Greece was most successful. The hosts won two long-distance finals, two sprint finals and five technical finals. Their strongest results came on the final day, although the medal count alone cannot establish how much home advantage contributed.
Alex Prapas won the 40+ men's final in 6:47.052, 3.955 s ahead of Italy's Alessandro Sapigni — the smallest winning margin of the day. Nikos Farsaris won the junior men's final in 6:01.554, beating Romania's Nuredin Resul by 13.943 s. Georgios Sfakiotakis finished third, giving Greece two places on the podium. In the open men's final, Anastasios Tsouris finished 7.167 s behind Andersen.
Field sizes varied across the categories. The 50+ women's races won by Tsaoutou featured five or six athletes, while Papadimitriou's junior women's technical final had eight. There were also eight athletes in the open women's technical final. Logotheti beat four rivals who had finished ahead of her in the sprint the previous day.
Close finishes and winning margins
Some medals were decided by fractions of a second, while the gap between the first and last finishers in the open women's technical final exceeded a minute and a half.
The closest race for gold came in the open women's sprint. Pampinella clocked 26.960 s and Kamińska 27.020 s, a difference of just 0.060 s. On Wednesday, the smallest winning margin was Prapas's 3.955 s advantage over Sapigni. In the open women's technical final, 98.429 s separated first and eighth. The corresponding gap in Tuesday's sprint final was 5.400 s.
The 50+ women's category produced the same three names in the same order in the sprint and in the technical: Penny Tsaoutou first, Israel's Bathen Karter Dekel second, Britain's Sara Maxey third. It was the only category with an identical podium in the sprint and technical races.
Louise Court of Great Britain won the 40+ women's technical final in 8:41.616, 8.588 s ahead of Greece's Eirini Logkaki, with Olga Merkulova, competing as an Individual Neutral Athlete, third. In the 40+ men's final, third and fourth were separated by 0.084 s after more than seven minutes of racing: Rui Ramos of Portugal in 7:02.250, Dan Miller of the United States in 7:02.334.
Two women won all of Poland's medals. Apanasewicz finished third in the open women's sprint and third again in the technical, the only Polish athlete to win two medals at the event. Kamińska's sprint silver completed Poland's tally of one silver and two bronzes. Poland placed eleventh among the thirteen medal-winning nations in the medal table and eighth by total medals. The Polish men reached two A-finals and finished eighth in both — Mikołaj Majdan in the open men's technical, 65.568 s behind the winner, and Miłosz Sytnik in the junior men's.
Apanasewicz earned her bronzes on consecutive days in two different tests. She finished 0.950 s behind the winner in the 100 m sprint and 20.841 s behind in the technical final, after more than seven minutes of racing. The sprint demanded speed over a short distance; the technical race added a sequence of turns. Apanasewicz kept her place on the podium even as the order around her changed. Thirteen athletes across all eight categories medalled in both the sprint and the technical; in the open women's category she was the only one.
What's next
Agios Nikolaos was part of the 2026 ICF SUP World Ranking Series and the last World Cup of the season. Earlier World Cup racing included Torbay in June.
The next major event is the ICF SUP World Championships in Sabaudia in Italy, 14–18 October. The championships begin three weeks after racing concluded in Agios Nikolaos.
Two questions remain ahead of Sabaudia. Can Greece repeat its technical racing success away from home? And will Pampinella contest all three disciplines at the World Championships? In Agios Nikolaos, the Italian won both events she entered and sat out the technical race.
Agios Nikolaos also staged the Paddle Europe SUP Championships from 18 to 20 September, with Sunday's long-distance race counting towards both competitions. The continental results are covered in our European SUP Championships medal table.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who won the technical finals in the open categories?
Kyriaki Logotheti of Greece won the open women's technical final in 6:49.171. Christian Andersen of Denmark won the open men's in 5:44.019.
Which nation topped the World Cup medal table?
Greece, with nine golds, five silvers and seven bronzes from 24 finals. Italy finished second with six golds and 19 medals overall, including ten silvers — the most of any nation.
Did any athlete win all three disciplines?
Yes. Penny Tsaoutou of Greece won the 50+ women's long-distance, sprint and technical races. Ioanna Papadimitriou, Christian Andersen, Reza Nasiri and Cecilia Pampinella each won two.
How did Poland perform?
Poland won one silver and two bronzes, all in the open women's category. Marta Apanasewicz took bronze in both the sprint and the technical; Hanna Kamińska took silver in the sprint, 0.060 s behind the winner.
Does a sprint win predict success in the technical race?
Not necessarily. Matei Barbu won the 100 m sprint and finished seventh of eight in the technical, 44.301 s adrift. Logotheti was sixth in the sprint and won the technical by 12.925 s. The sprint results did not determine the technical podiums in Agios Nikolaos.
Did Italy underachieve with nineteen medals?
Nineteen medals, including six golds, put Italy second in the medal table. The Italians also won ten silvers, the most of any nation. Greece finished two medals ahead overall, 21 to 19, and won three more golds.
Was the Greek result simply home advantage?
The results alone cannot establish that. They do show that Greece was most successful in the technical races, winning five of the eight finals. The hosts won two of eight finals in both the long-distance and sprint events.
When are the World Championships?
14–18 October 2026, in Sabaudia, Italy.
Logotheti finished the event with technical gold after placing sixth in the sprint, while Greece left Crete with nine gold medals. Their next major test comes in three weeks at the ICF SUP World Championships in Sabaudia, where they will race for world titles across the sprint, technical and long-distance disciplines.
Sources: official timing, Agios Nikolaos on SUP 2026; ICF/Paddle Worldwide competition calendar.