Danish National Coach Jesper Carlson Presents Team Denmark For EUROSUP 22

As EUROSUP 22 Denmark is around the corner, Jesper Carlson, a key player in the Danish SUP team (which placed 2nd in the last EUROSUP in 2018) as he was recently appointed Sports Manager (or Sportschef in Danish) of the Danish Surf & SUP association. Although Jesper lives 200 meters from the beach on a beautiful Danish island called Møn (on the other side of Denmark) and enjoys playing in the water as much as possible, his background is from a totally different sport as his previous occupation was National Coach for the Danish inline and ice speed skating team. Together with a small team, he succeeded to qualify twice for the Winter Olympic Games in 2018 and in 2022 with a 5th place as their best result. After many years with talent development and elite skating, Jesper decided to find a new challenge for himself and became Sport Manager in a sport that has been a hobby of his for years. EUROSUP 22 will be his first international test

Hello Jesper, could you tell us what is the history behind your role as Sportschef and what are your mission entails on a daily basis?

My role is Sports manager and currently I’m still in a learning phase meaning that I’m analyzing a lot how we can develop Danish SUP even more.

I’m in close contact with all the athletes on the national team and I have been following them since March when I started. As Sports Manager, I can help with coaching advice due to my own coaching background but more importantly I am to ensure that each athlete has a good coach and an environment to support their development.

Having worked for many years to solve the puzzle about how to get the most out of a sport on an elite level, I have the advantage of knowing what to do as our next steps.

SUP is an exciting puzzle to solve and with such good athletes and pioneers like Casper Steinfath, I have the feeling that Danish SUP is at the start of a new exciting adventure.

Can you please introduce the whole Danish team who will take part at EuroSUP and add a little sentence on each one?

Kristian Pilgaard – Sprint
2nd at the Danish Championships, Sprint. Coming from Kayak Kristian has his explosiveness from there.

Christian Andersen – All distances
Leading the Danish SUP Tour and bringing home all the gold from the Danish Championships, Christian Andersen is definitely one to watch during the competitions.

Noa Stender – SUP Surf and Tech
Young gun Copenhagen who moved to Cold Hawaii to get more waves. Currently Junior but is competing as both Junior and Senior.

Rasmus Westermann – Long
The carpenter from Cold Hawaii. Hard working young guy who spends half of the day working as a carpenter and the rest of the day on the water.

Caroline Küntzel – All distances
Sprint and tech queen from Denmark who has taken all the victories at the Danish SUP tour. Currently recovering from a foot injury but hopes to perform at her best during the competitions.

Nicoline Rasmussen – All distances
Experienced and strong as hell. The best combination that can be a dangerous cocktail for the athletes. Probably the fastest beach runner out there – so be aware..

Katrine Bergmann (Junior) – All distances
Moved to Cold Hawaii in search of waves and training buddies. Here you have a longboard surfer coming from track cycling. What a combination! Agility on the board and a mindset as a cyclist…

Asger Smidt (Junior) – All distances
Asger has been smashing it this season competing in both Sweden and Denmark. At only 15 years old Asger is one to watch. With his own words “I´m here to win”.

Denmark was 2nd at the last Eurosup competition in Sardinia. What is your main objective this year? Are you feeling more pressure being the host nation?

We only feel the pressure that we allow in order to perform at the top level. Pressure is a good thing as long as you are rooted in a safe environment.
We have a good atmosphere on the team and I’m certain that with a good safe environment and with the athletes’ preparations, the Danish athletes will shine the whole week in Hvide Sande.

What can you tell about the expected conditions in Hvide Sande

Expect the unexpected

Follow EUROSUP 2022 Denmark – Aug 27, Sep 3 :

> Daily Livestreams: www.facebook.com/totalsupofficial
> @EUROSUPDK on Instagram
> Official website:  https://supcitydenmark.dk/