Logbook: Eurotour in Dusseldorf

The season opener

by Paolo Marconi

This year, the competitive season kicked off earlier than usual, and in a truly unique way. The 2024 season hadn’t even wrapped up yet when Eurotour announced that the first race of 2025 would be an indoor sprint at the Düsseldorf Boat Show. So, on the weekend of January 25-26, some of the world’s best athletes gathered to compete in a pool. The format was simple: a one-on-one challenge over a course of just over 100 meters, with each athlete having their own lane and a buoy to turn. It was an exciting and straightforward race format that appealed not only to the competitors but also to the large crowd at the boat show.

Susak was immediately excited to start the new season with a pool sprint. In recent years, she’s had great results in sprints and developed a real passion for the discipline. I, on the other hand, was a bit hesitant. A few years ago, I moved away from short-distance races to focus on longer ones. But over time, I was drawn in by her enthusiasm and, especially, by my own desire to challenge myself and compete against the top athletes in our sport. So, just before the end of 2024, we made the decision, and Düsseldorf became the first stop of 2025.

Normally, January is our off-season, a time when we follow a lighter training routine and enjoy what the ocean offers while working on the basics (you can find the article on the importance of the off-season here). This year, however, things were different in preparation for the first Eurotour race of the year. We had to follow a specific training plan to get ready for a race that was unlike any other.

After almost a month of off-season, we got back to work to prepare for an early start to 2025. On December 26, 2024, we hit the water for the first session of the new season. We started with a short recovery period to reconnect with our boards and paddles, then moved on to more targeted training for this unique race. We designed a reverse periodization training plan, focusing on shorter, more intense sessions that would rely on the solid aerobic and technical foundation we’ve built over the years. On land, we worked on basic strength before moving to explosive strength, mainly through bodyweight exercises or minimal added resistance. In the water, after regaining our technical confidence, we focused on intensity and finished with skills training and race-distance simulations. In a race like this, agility is just as important as power—the buoy turn is just as crucial as the explosive start from a standstill. It was fascinating to design a training plan that could deliver results in such a high-level competition in such a short period.

After about four weeks of preparation, the time finally came to compete in the first race of 2025. On Friday, January 24, we had a brief opportunity to test the pool water, which brought back memories of our last indoor sprints in Paris in 2019. Pool water is unlike anything else—it moves rhythmically and bounces off the bottom and sides, making balance precarious. Finding the right balance between power and lightness is key to maintaining rhythm and staying stable.

Saturday, January 25, was finally race day. 12 women and 24 men from sixteen countries took to the water, putting on an incredible show in front of hundreds of spectators at the poolside. Susak won her qualification heat, advancing directly for Sunday’s race. I had three rounds to get through, winning all my heats and advancing to the quarter-finals alongside Susak.

On Sunday, January 26, the top 8 women and 8 men returned to compete in front of an even larger crowd. Before the race, we had a formal athlete presentation—a real show that made us feel part of something truly special. Then, we hit the water to battle it out with paddles. Susak won her quarter-final but was eliminated in the semi-finals by the very strong Marie Carmen Rivera, finishing 4th overall. It was a solid start to the season with a great result at Eurotour. As for me, I had a heated battle against the young Spanish athlete Ivan de Frutos. I fell just a few strokes after the start but managed to recover thanks to his own fall at the buoy. However, I lost my quarter-final in a photo finish by just a few centimeters. Both Susak and I paddled the Sunova Flatwater 14x21 that turned out to be really light in acceleration and maneuverable in the buoy turns.

The frustration of being eliminated didn’t last long, though. It quickly gave way to a deep sense of gratitude that, after all these years, I’m still able to perform at such a high level. As is often the case now, I was the "oldest" in the fleet, competing against athletes more than ten years younger than me. But this is a point of pride and drives me to keep training hard for a long and sustainable career. It was back in 2015 when I won my first Eurotour race in Palma de Mallorca, and ten years later, I’m still here, competing for the top 10. For me, that’s worth more than any result.

The race ended with surprising performances and thrilling displays. In the women’s race, Alba Frey took first place, followed by Marie Carmen Rivera and Katniss Voltan. Susak finished 4th, with Cecilia Pampinella in 5th. In the men’s race, the Spanish athletes dominated with three in the top five: Manu Hoyela took first place, followed by Ivan de Frutos and Eri Tenorio, with Unax Etxebarria in 4th and Christian Andersen in 5th.

The 2025 season kicked off with a truly spectacular event that bodes well for the future of our sport. Eurotour continues to establish itself as the premier circuit for world SUP racing, bringing together the best athletes for top-level competitions. We can’t wait to write more “Log Books” about our upcoming competitive adventures.