A champion’s name lasts longer than the moment of crossing the line. A hard-to-beat paddler loses a crown and wins it back; someone who grew up watching him reaches the same podium. Those years sit behind the names passing across today’s broadcast.
This retrospective follows the 13 men selected for SUP WORLD RANKING’s SWR SUP ICONS. Their 2016–2025 ISA and ICF Open/Senior racing record opens a story of rivalry and generational change beyond the medal table. This is not an exhaustive list of all champions or a history of women’s racing.
13 Names, More Than One Great Race
Medal colours tell different stories. In this men’s selection, Connor Baxter has 15 medals in total, while Shuri Araki has eight golds. Noic Garioud’s six golds, six silvers and one bronze trace repeated title challenges. A gold count and a total-medal count are different ways of reading the record.
The figures below are SWR’s selection dataset, combining ISA and ICF Open/Senior sprint, technical and long-distance results. Junior, Masters, inflatable, prone, SUP surfing and relay categories are excluded. The criterion requires at least three medals, with two or more golds, or one gold plus at least two silvers/bronzes. It is not an ICF-only all-time ranking.
SWR selection · 2016–2025 · three men’s Open/Senior disciplines. Athlete order and country labels follow the source.
Booth and Steinfath: The Standard to Chase
Michael Booth won the men’s SUP distance title at the 2016 ISA Worlds in Fiji, racing 17 kilometres from Cloudbreak to Musket Cove. The ocean course tested endurance alongside reading the wind and water. It is a reminder that distance racing’s history cannot be reduced to flat-water times.
Casper Steinfath left a different closing image: at the 2024 ISA Worlds in Denmark, he finished his racing career with a team relay on home water. Relay is excluded from the table above, yet it can be central to a paddler’s career. One champion becomes a target for the next generation; one last race becomes part of the sport’s memory.
Baxter and Garioud: The Fight to Win It Back
At the 2021 ICF Worlds in Hungary, 19-year-old Noic Garioud won sprint and technical gold and added distance silver. Connor Baxter took silver in both of those gold-medal races. When the same names meet again in another discipline, spectators gain a rivalry longer than a single final.
The following year in Gdynia, Poland, Baxter won the ICF sprint title back, with Garioud taking silver and Claudio Nika bronze. Knowing the champions does not mean predicting the result. It means seeing what a paddler is trying to reclaim and whose presence matters all the way to the line.
Knowing the rival’s name changes the final. Watch not only the leader but also the paddler trying to win it back.
A Wider World: Brothers and Champions Across Borders
Hungarian brothers Bruno and Daniel Hasulyo stand side by side in this selection. Daniel won the men’s SUP technical race at the 2018 ISA Worlds. In 2019, Brazil’s Vinnicius Martins won distance, France’s Titouan Puyo technical and Italy’s Claudio Nika sprint. Different disciplines at the same Worlds produced champions from different countries.
Read the country labels across all 13 names, including Andrii Kraitor. World racing is not the stage of one nation or one style. This medal table works better as a map of where challengers have emerged than as a verdict on which country is “better”.
Araki: A 16-Year-Old Changes the Final
In the 2022 ISA men’s technical final in Puerto Rico, Shuri Araki won gold at 16. On a wave shared with Garioud, Araki kept moving while his rival fell, turning the moment into a large lead. Racing rewards more than force and stroke count: position and reading the water can change the contest.
At the 2025 ICF Worlds in Abu Dhabi, Araki won men’s distance gold, but not every final belonged to him. Aaron Sanchez won technical gold, with Araki taking silver. The arrival of a new champion does not create a permanent throne. The next day and the next discipline can produce a different answer.
Taguchi and Sanchez: The Next Chapter Is Already Here
Rai Taguchi won the men’s technical race at the 2024 ISA Worlds in Copenhagen, coming back after two falls. Aaron Sanchez took silver in that final. A year later, Sanchez won men’s technical gold at the 2025 ICF Worlds, with Taguchi taking bronze.
The names may repeat, but the event, course and water are different. Last year’s order is not an answer key for this year’s final. Remember where these paddlers have met, and the fight for a buoy or the final acceleration becomes much easier to read.
The 2024 ISA and 2025 ICF Worlds are separate events. This story follows the paddlers’ rivalry; it does not merge their titles into one official ranking.
Know the Decade, Then Watch the Next Race
These numbers belong to the 2016–2025 window. They are not a paddler’s entire career or a full history including women, Juniors and Masters. Alongside comparing Baxter’s total with Araki’s gold count, learn to distinguish the event and discipline behind each medal.
The 2026 ICF SUP World Championships in Italy are writing another chapter. This retrospective does not add this year’s results to the old dataset or assume all 13 paddlers are competing now. Choose a name, then check the latest start lists for the actual division. A decade of champions is a starting point for watching today’s racing more deeply.
Name → event and year → discipline. Keep the records distinct to read a champion’s story accurately.