The 2025 ICF Stand-Up Paddle Competition Rules: Key Takeaways

As the year drew to a close, the International Canoe Federation (ICF) unveiled its updated competition rule book, set to take effect on 1 January 2025, igniting discussions within the SUP community.

Notable provisions sparking debate include the introduction of a one-design hard board mandate for Junior Athletes under 18 (U18) and the broad, non-specific bracket for the Long Distance format, covering a range of distances, between 5km and 35km.

Image source: Planet Canoe

What’s new?

Distances:

There will be no set course length for National and International Competitions. However, for Continental Championships, World Ranking Competitions, World Cups, and World Championships, the recommended distances are:

Sprint race – up to 250m straight line with lanes to show the direction. Dedicated lanes per athlete are not required but buoys and lines can be used to indicate the direction of the course.

Long Distance race – between 5km and 35km; length is a minimum of 10,000m. It can be a racing course from point to point or can be a lap circuit course. The Long Distance event for the junior age group should have a minimum distance of 5,000m.

Technical race – between 800m and 5km; Technical course must contain at least two right turns and two left turns. The difference between the number of left and right turns can not be more than one.

For Sprint and Technical races, B and C finals may be held to aid final rankings. B finals will only be held when there are more than 32 athletes in that particular event and C finals will only be held when there are more than 64 athletes in that particular event.

Courses: 

The provision regarding the competition courses states that they should be finalized in advance and published no later than three weeks prior to the event.

Courses may be changed at short notice to suit the conditions on the day of the race.

Junior Division:  

Juniors (U18) are restricted to use designated (one-design) ICF SUP Hard Board 14′. However, the rule book does not specify the board design.

The ICF argues that this will make the sport more accessible to juniors by reducing equipment costs.

Other key provisions:

Prize money: 

• The organisers of ICF SUP World Championship must provide a minimum amount of 30.000 Euros prize money to athletes in Open age group races
• Tax deductions are not to be included in the announced prize money
• The prize money must be split between men and women 50:50.

Bidding procedure:

To receive an ICF World Cup competition a minimum prize money of 3.000 Euros per course must be provided.

World Ranking Points International Competitions:

The World Cup Rules will apply to the World Ranking Points (WRP) competitions except the prize money will be reduced to a preferred amount of 1.000,00 Euros per course (Sprint, Long distance, Technical race).

The following competitions will be eligible for the World Ranking:

• World Championships
• World Cups
• International competitions in the ICF calendar that the ICF Board of Directors agree as competitions eligible for World Ranking Points (WRP).

View the new ICF rule book for SUP here 

To find out more about the International Canoe Federation (ICF), visit canoeicf.com