PERRANPORTH’S Andrew Byatt has won two gold medals at The International Surf Association Stand Up Paddleboard and Paddleboard Championships in Copenhagen.

Byatt was victorious in the technical and prone events in Denmark as Team England enjoyed their most successful ever championships.

Byatt wasno stranger to an ISA medal, having previously earned five, including twosilvermedals in 2023. The 44-year-old was extremely happy to add a gold medal to his collection, and become England’s first ISA WSUPPC world champion, after winning the men’s prone technical race on September 18.

France’s Baptiste Cochard, who was the number one seed, stayed close with Byatt for much of the race, but a fall in transition cost him valuable time and allowed Byatt to take his winning break which in the end was over five seconds.

Byatt was home in 21:00:10, with Cochard 21:05:50.

Carlos Alonso (Spain) took the bronze medal, while Oisin McGrath won Ireland their first-ever WSUPPC medal, the Copper.

Reflecting on his his achievement, Byatt, who is better known as ‘Milky’, told the ISA website: “It’s amazing to finally win that gold you know, I know I’m not young. The guys on the team have been calling me the fossil.

“We’ve had a good atmosphere on the team, but they’ve all been saying, you can do this, you can do this all week. I kind of knew I could, but doing it is a different thing, isn’t it? And yeah, to finally get that is amazing. I think hopefully it gives other people hope that they can do it from England.”

SUP (Stand Up Paddleboard) is one of our most accessible watersports, and over 1.6 million Brits own a SUP for exploring our rivers and coasts.

With so many people enjoying the sport, it’s no surprise racing series have developed, and the World Championships sit right at the top as the sport’s most competitive and prestigious event.

The athletes have to tackle a range of different disciplines, with each competitor collecting points that contribute to an overall team total.

The final category is the Prone Racing, where the competitors ditch the paddle and lay or kneel on the board, paddling with their arms as you would on a surf board. The prone racers take on both a technical and distance course, requiring a very different skill set, but equal physicality. This is where Team England really shone as Byatt took home his second gold on September 20.

With his family en-route to the technical triumph, there was delight as he smashed the prone distance event in just one hour and 26 minutes and two seconds, taking a second gold and creating a magic moment with his daughter on the podium.

Andrew Byatt
Andrew Byatt celebrates moments after his race and on the podium with his daughter. Pictures: Pablo Franco (left); Right Picture: Pablo Jimenez (right). (Left picture: Pablo Franco; Right Picture: Pablo Jimenez)

Such was his need to finish well, he ended just four seconds ahead of Spain’s Davide Buille and eight ahead of the USA’s Donald Miralle.

Not being an Olympic sport yet means SUP racing is largely self-funded, although thanks to Surfing England, dryrobe, GB SUP, BSUPA and ShoreTees the kit and some of the competition costs were covered.

With SUP currently sitting as the UK’s most popular watersport and Team England in the world’s top five, the door is open for a major sponsor to step in and become a part of this amazing sport.

Such was Team England’s impressive efforts, they missed out on the Copper medals by just a whisker and comfortably finished ahead of powerhouse nations Brazil and the USA.

There was also another English world champion as Molly Roodhouse won the ladies’ prone racing title, just edging out Japanese favourite Yurika Horibe by under a second.