What a great weekend of racing in Oklahoma City at the Oklahoma Riversports , ICF Canoe Sprint SUPER CUP and ICF Stand Up Paddle World Cup! 3 days of pure adrenaline and absolute world class action. Full Olympic facility, great organization, superb flat water, a great turn out of international super powers and Olympians and outstanding results for the Starboard Dream Team.
I was just talking with Connor about what are the chances that we got to paddle a professional World Cup Race in Oklahoma! Stoked to made the decision to come over and a very good warm up before the upcoming ICF Worlds in Gdynia, as a matter of fact I’m writing this message from the air, in my way to Poland.
I came into the race with a solid preparation and ready to prove myself as felt I need a big win to kick start the inner beast before the 2nd half of the season.
The event format of the this years World Paddlesport Festival ICF SUP World CUP saw a pure 200m Sprint, a very dynamic Tech Race and a grueling flat 10km Longdistance race, spread out in 3 days.
Friday we had the qualifying rounds of both Sprint and Tech Races. With a great turn out of Americas best paddlers and other strong international names, I was happy to qualify in the sprints and set the fastest time in the Tech Course race for the day.
Saturday was the challenge of the big Finals. Sprinting is definitely not my main discipline, but regardless I pushed the gears to the max and eventually with a max speed of 17,78km/h of the stretch and just a few seconds behind Connor, I finished with a silver medal 🥈 which made me very happy.
The tech race final was a show for itself, as we competed in the dark under the lights which added an extra bit of spark to the action. Unfortunately I got given lane 1 for the start, so with a slight disadvantage on the placing, I didn’t have enough space to get the inside lane on the turn, and from there my battle was gone. The Tech race, saw 5 bouy turns over a 650m course. The racing was definitely exciting, but I had to walk away with a copper medal 4th place, which left me beyond fired up for the last big show, Sunday’s Longdistance Race.
Within, this was the race I came for. For the first time I had the chance to paddle the 2022 Sprint 14×20.75 in an important title race, in the conditions that is the most adapt for the board, and I knew that my preparation has been going very well, so I went out confident and pushed the gear from start to finish, pulling away from the chase pack at every stroke. The board was flying, slicing through the water, super efficient and fast, and I was feeling good to push, so I broke away from the group early and finished the with a 2 minute gap on 2nd place, young gun from Oregon Bodie Von Allmen.
Very happy with the result and my choice of equipment! It was just the perfect race.
This was an extra special Victory for me as it was the first USA Gold Medal in my sup racing career, so with a silver medal (2nd) 🥈 in 200M Sprint, copper in Tech race and 1st 🥇 Gold Place in the Longdistance, the 2022 ICF Sup World Cup in Oklahoma City will be one for the books!
Starboard Dream Team dominance, over all 1st and 2nd! Massive congratulations to Connor as well for his first in the Sprint and Tech, it was a statement, if you want to go fast your better have a blue and red board 😉 , guided by the Tiki 🤙
The event was great, the atmosphere and the location were spotless! Great racing, great videography and very good organization in general! Looking forward for the next one!
Mission accomplished!
Now all focus on Poland 🤙
Big Thank you for the ongoing support and also to all my sponsors for believing in me and allowing to chase the dream 🤙
Starboard SUP
MINI Thailand
PFL Academy
SEPA Training
VMG Blades
Sungod
COROS
Starboard Foils
Mentagram Thailand
Let’s keep it rolling,
See you soon,
Daniel
