Watch the ISA World SUP, Paddleboard & Junior Championships on Standup Journal’s Facebook!
El Sunzal, El Salvador has gathered a selection of the world’s great stand up paddle and prone (a.k.a. ‘paddleboard’) athletes from over 27 countries to compete this week for gold medals and a chance to win a coveted ISA World Championship for their country. This elite ISA event commences with a beautiful, flag bearing opening ceremony on November 24th and runs through December 1st when it will host a closing celebration of winners and their countries. The ISA World Championships is seen as a stepping stone for stand up paddling to enter into the Olympic Games. See EVENT Schedule below.
ISA World Championship Venue:Â El Sunzal, El Salvador
The 2019 ISA World SUP & Paddleboard Championship will take place in El Salvador for the first time in the ISA event’s eight-year history celebrating El Salvador’s magnificent coastline, natural beauty and abundance of world class waves.
El Sunzal, the central location for the World Championship competition, is a magnet for picking up southern hemisphere swells here in El Salvador. The rocky point break provides long rides with open faces that will play a significant role in the SUP Surfing, Technical Race, and SUP Distance course. Athletes have already been commenting on the quality of waves on offer here in El Sal.
Editor’s note: Standup Journal’s upcoming Winter Issue of our print magazine includes a complete write up of El Salvador as a SUP surf destination written by Fanatic pro athlete Maria Andres who will be present in El Sunzal this week. Subscribe to our print mag HERE.
Watch ISA Championships on Standup Journal’s Facebook Feed
The ISA World Championship event will be streamed live on www.isasurf.org from November 24 – December 1, 2019.
Fans will be able to watch the live webcast on Standup Journal’s Facebook page throughout the event.
ISA’s Global Leadership in Sport of SUP
The International Surfing Association (a.k.a. “ISA”) is committed to the global leadership, development and promotion of the sport of stand up paddling. The ISA has, for over a decade, been organizing and holding their World Championship events since 2012.
Under the ISA’s leadership and governance, the rise of the sport of stand up paddling has been seen through development programs, scholarships for young SUP athletes, and promotion of the ISA’s Championship events at the national level.
It is the ISA who presented Surfing and SUP to the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee for inclusion in the Olympic Sports Program. Tokyo 2020 elected to include Surfing in the Games but not yet SUP. However, additional groundbreaking decisions such as the inclusion of stand up paddling into the 2019 Pan American Games and 2017 Central American Games, under the ISA’s leadership, add momentum to the ISA’s drive to include SUP in future editions of the Olympic Games.
ISA Junior World Champions:Â The Future of the Sport of SUP
In 2018, the ISA crowned the first Under 18, Junior World Champions in the Technical Race. The USA swept the Gold Medals with their up and coming paddlers, Ryan Funk in the Boy’s Division and Jade Howson who triumphed the Girl’s Division.
In 2019, the ISA will continue to crown Junior World Champions to create a platform for young athletes to rise and take a spotlight in the professional sport of stand up paddling.
2019 SUP & Paddleboard Divisions: What to Expect
ISA World Championships features eight medal-awarding disciplines, including:
- Men’s and Women’s SUP Technical Race
- Boy’s and Girl’s Under-18 SUP Technical Race
- Men’s and Women’s Paddleboard Technical Race
- Men’s and Women’s SUP Distance Race
- Women’s and Women’s Paddleboard Distance Race
- Men’s and Women’s SUP Sprint Race
- Team Relay Race
- Men’s and Women’s SUP Surfing
The Championships will showcase four diverse race courses: (1) Technical Race, (2) Distance Race, (3) Sprint Race and (4) Team Relay.
Each course is designed to challenge the ISA’s world-class athletes with varying conditions and display the iconic beauty of El Sunzal’s spectacular coastline
2019 ISA World Championship Schedule:Â Watch On Standup Journal Facebook Page
November 24th includes the Opening Ceremony and SUP Sprint Races
November 25th unleashes the SUP and Paddleboard Long Distance Races
November 26th will unfold 3 different races:
- Technical Race (SUP & Paddleboard) Preliminary Rounds
- Team Relay (SUP & Paddleboard) Preliminary Rounds
- Team Relay (SUP & Paddleboard) Final
November 27th showcases SUP & Paddleboard Technical Race Finals
November 28th – December 1st broadcasts SUP Surfing World Championships
December 1st will be the ISA’s World SUP & Paddleboard Championships Closing Ceremony*
*The schedule is subject to changes.
Standup Journal Brings YOU the Action on our Facebook LIVE FEED from El Sunzal! Stay tuned for more from the ISA World Championship event.
