The ISA World StandUp Paddle and Paddleboard Championship (WSUPPC) is an ISA World Championship that features four disciplines—SUP Surfing, SUP Racing Technical, SUP Racing Distance and Paddleboard Racing Technical and Distance. Within the SUP Racing and Paddleboard disciplines, athletes were  competing in up to three events including the Technical and Distance Races and the Paddle Relay. The event took place last week from November 12th till 20th on Fiji.

With only 19 years Fanatic´s Arthur Arutkin finished 3rd in the Long Distance and Technical Race – fantastic job there!

Long Distance Race: After a messy start at Cloudbreak, where the very strong current whipped up what looked like a cross between downwind bumps and rapids, a pack of seven guys broke away, with the names above being joined by Arthur Arutkin and  Brazilian youngster Guilherme dos Reis. However two ISA boats were in the way at the finish line, so Arthur fell in and had been overtaken by the Tahitian Georges Cronstead about fifty meters from the finish line. Arthur and Georges finished equal third, which is a fair result.

Top 5 Long Distance:

1. Micheal Booth
2. Titouan Puyo
3. Arthur Arutkin (Fanatic)
4. Georges Cronsteadt
5. Vinni Martins

Technical Race: After an average start, Arthur took the lead of the race on the second lap. He was doing great, but unfortunately one of the buoys was badly installed and his board was caught under the line.  So Arthur had to throw himself into the water to push his board back. With this he lost precious time and was then only in 7th or 8th place. He was full power again to catch up and fought back until he was in first place again! Unfortunately withing 200 metres of the fish Casper Steinfath caught a great wave over the shallow reef and surged ahead. And 10 meters from the finish Kai Lenny passed Arthur as well then, he was certainly a little tired of his accident. What a breathtaking race!

Top 5 Technical Race:

1. Casper Steinfath
2. Kai Lenny
3. Arthur Arutkin (Fanatic)
4. Titouan Puyo
5. Slater Trout

Finally there was an Relay Race on Sunday and for the first time in its history, Arthur´s the French team finished in second place right behind Australia. Congratulations Team France and of course well done again Arthur!

More info & full results: https://www.isasurf.org/