“You race clean, every time”: Ioanna Papadimitriou’s sprint breakthrough & the rise of a new force in Greek SUP

It has been a season not only of uncovering emerging SUP talent but also of recognising just how much deeper and more competitive the elite SUP racing field has become. Much of the spotlight has shifted towards junior athletes – some already testing themselves in the open divisions, others officially making the leap into new age categories. What is particularly striking is the confidence and maturity with which these young athletes are approaching the sport, speaking openly about their achievements, career paths and ambitions.

Nowhere is this new generation making a louder statement than in the explosive world of sprint racing. Young women, in particular, are making their presence felt on the start line, delivering results that demand attention.

At just 17, Ioanna Papadimitriou has quite literally burst onto the international scene. The Greek athlete claimed the Junior Women’s 100m Sprint title at the Paddle Europe SUP Championships in Agios Nikolaos, Crete, before following it up with a silver medal in the Junior Women’s Sprint at the World SUP Championships in Sabaudia, Italy.

An NSP rider from Chania, Crete, Ioanna trains at Surfing Crete in Stalos under coach George Fragos, alongside the support and guidance of her father, Thanasis Papadimitriou.

In this conversation, Ioanna opens up about the people who have shaped her development, her ambitions and her perspective on the rapidly evolving SUP racing scene in Greece.

There is a refreshing clarity and a particularly strong sense of national pride in the way she speaks about representing her country on the international stage: “Greece is a country of the sea, and I’m proud to be one of the people showing that we belong at this level.”

Image source: Agios Nikolaos on SUP

Hi Ioanna, welcome to TotalSUP! First of all, congratulations on your recent international results! How does it feel to be representing Greece on the international SUP stage?

Thank you. It was a good season. Representing Greece feels natural to me – I grew up by the sea and this is where I learned to paddle. On an international start line I mostly feel responsibility, and I like that. Greece is a country of the sea, and I’m proud to be one of the people showing that we belong at this level.

Photo by Damiano Benedetto

How did you first discover stand-up paddleboarding? Was it something you immediately fell in love with, or did you discover your competitive side later?

I first got on a board about nine years ago, paddling around with my father and my sister Dimitra for fun. Then my father, Thanasis, got us into other water sports, mostly surfing, and the sea became a normal part of our summers. The real start was 2022, when we moved to Crete and I began paddling a lot more.

The turning point was my first race. I entered it for fun, but once I was on the start line I understood two things pretty quickly: I wanted to compete, and I wanted to do it properly. After that, SUP stopped being only a hobby.

What do you enjoy most about SUP racing – the speed, the competition, the technical side or simply being out on the water?

The mix of everything, really. Being on the water, in nature, is something I’ll never get tired of. But what keeps me racing is how complete the sport is. You need strength, power, speed and endurance, and on top of that technique and race strategy.

There isn’t one thing that makes you fast – you have to build all of it, and there’s always something to fix. And then there’s the competition. I like lining up against the best and finding out, in a few hundred metres, where I really stand.

Greece has an incredible coastline and a natural connection with the sea. How would you describe the SUP scene in Greece today?

Ideal conditions, not enough people using them. Crete is the centre of it – most of the strong athletes come from here – with a few more in Athens and around the country. Racing is flat water: sprint, technical, long distance.

The level at the top is good but the base under it is still thin. This year we held the European Championship was in Agios Nikolaos, so Europe came to us this time.

Is SUP racing growing in popularity in Greece, particularly among younger athletes?

We have few more juniors than before, but nothing like what this sport deserves. It’s a beautiful sport and a lot more adrenaline than people think – and most kids in Greece don’t even know it exists as a race. That’s on the clubs.

They have the sea at their door; the rest is effort. Where a club puts in the work, kids come and they stay. Where it doesn’t, nothing happens.

Who has played the biggest role in your development as an athlete? Are there particular coaches, clubs or people who have helped you along the way?

My father, Thanasis, no question. He put me on a board, he took me to my first race, and since then he’s been at every training session and every race. He’s the one who made it possible for me to train and compete at this level, and he believes in me without hesitation – sometimes more than I do, which helps on a bad day.

But the most important thing he gave me has nothing to do with training. SUP is a sport where you have to respect your opponent and follow the rules, and he taught me that from when I was small: you race clean, every time, no matter what’s at stake.

That’s how I was raised in this sport and that’s how I race. Today my training is split in two. On the water my coach is George Fragkos, who works with me on paddling technique and on the small details that make the difference. Off the water – strength and conditioning – my father takes care of it himself. I also owe a lot to my club, Surfingcrete, which gave me a home in the sport. Nobody gets to a start line alone.

Ioanna with her sister Dimitra who claimed U15 Sprint Gold , father Thanasis and Coach George Fragkos at the Paddle Worldwide SUP Championships in Italy after winning the Sprint Silver | Photo courtesy of Ioanna

Is sprint racing your main focus and favourite discipline? It’s an incredibly explosive event, requiring a combination of power, balance, technique and acceleration. Which of these aspects do you concentrate on most in your training, and what do you think makes the difference between a good sprinter and a great one?

My focus is sprint and technical, and I like both. I’d like to see one or two more disciplines on the explosive side of the sport, but that’s not up to me. What I like about the sprint is that it’s unforgiving. There’s no time to fix a mistake, so every detail counts, from the first stroke to the last.

In training I work on strength and power off the water, and on the water on starts, acceleration, high-intensity intervals and technique. A good sprinter is strong and fast. A great sprinter is also efficient, doesn’t waste anything, and is completely calm on the start line. I’m working on all three. The calm is the one that takes longest.

Image source: Agios Nikolaos on SUP

What goes through your mind during a 100-metre race? Is it all instinct and reaction, or do you follow a specific race strategy?

There’s no time to think in a 100-metre race, and that’s the part I like. The plan is made before the start: a clean, explosive start, full acceleration in the first strokes, then hold a high rate and keep the technique together all the way to the line. Once the signal goes, it’s just execution. My only thought is the next stroke. Any hesitation or small mistake costs speed, and in a sprint you don’t get it back. The work is done long before the start line. The race is just where you show it.

As an NSP rider, how do you find the boards and equipment, what do you like most about paddling with NSP, and what’s your current board and paddle setup?

I race the NSP Ninja Evo 20 and I like it a lot. It’s light, it’s fast on flat water, and it responds straight away when I accelerate, which is exactly what you want in a sprint. I’m also testing other NSP boards at the moment, but I think it’s too early to settle on a final choice. For sprint I use the Black Project Sprint X paddle. For technical I’m still trying different paddles and haven’t decided yet. The board does its job; the rest is on me.

Photo by Damiano Benedetto

What are your biggest ambitions in SUP over the next couple of years?

I’m 17 and in my last year of school, so the next couple of years will be full anyway. The ambition is simple: to become the best version of myself as an athlete, and I’m not there yet. That means getting better every season – strength, speed, technique, race experience – racing against the best and seeing how far that takes me. I like the work and I like the racing; results come from those two, not the other way around.

One thing won’t change: I race clean and I respect my opponents and the rules, the way I was taught. Longer term, I’d like to be someone younger Greek paddlers can look up to, and to show them you can go a long way in this sport from Greece.

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