Lanzarote to Host Ocean Racing World Championships

The Italian Ocean Racing national team, accompanied by team leader Mariano Bifano, is prepared to compete in the 5th Ocean Racing World Championships, scheduled to take place in Lanzarote, Spain, between the towns of Arrieta and Arrecife. Twenty-six nations and 250 athletes will participate in the surfski race, an emerging discipline in paddle sports that perfectly combines competition, skill, and adrenaline on the waves. It attracts versatile athletes from downriver, marathon, and flatwater disciplines. The races are set to take place on Sunday morning, depending on the best weather and sea conditions. Among the Italian 'Azzurri' team, Giovanni Saperdi (Shock Wave Sport) will compete in the challenging men's senior SS1 event. In the U23 category, Riccardo Minolli (Shock Wave Sport) and Matteo Finizio (CC Aniene) will also race in the men's SS1. Matteo Muzio, Giacomo Dasso, and Matteo Bottini (Shock Wave Sport), making their international debut, will participate in the junior event. The picturesque 27-kilometer course will take athletes from La Garita beach (Haría) in the north of the island to El Reducto beach (Arrecife). Many paddlers have trained for several weeks in the Canary Islands beforehand to assess race strategies based on the island's climatic conditions. Notable competitors include German favorite Gordan Harbrecht and Spanish athletes Esteban Medina, Walter Bouzán, Amaia Osaba, and Chloe Bunnett. The reigning 2019 world champions, South Africa's Sean Rice and New Zealand's Danielle McKenzie, were unable to travel to Spain due to pandemic-related restrictions. Lanzarote approaches the organization of the World Championships with experience gained from four editions of the Atlantic Ocean Surfski, a prestigious international competition that served as a prelude to these World Championships. With this event, the Canary Islands culminate a project that establishes them as a benchmark for the discipline of Ocean Racing. The races will be streamed live on…

[go to the magazine: federcanoa]

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