Comparing SUP and Sprint Canoe Techniques

An Olympic Champion's Analysis of SUP and Sprint Canoe Paddling Techniques

Coming from a canoe background and then getting so heavily into SUP, I’ve always wanted to do a technique comparison of the two.  Unfortunately, I just never seemed to find the time.  But, with the stunning 200m SUP performance at the recent European Championships of former C1 200m World and European Champion Andrey Kraytor, and the Paris Olympics almost upon us, this seems like the perfect time to finally get down to it.  So, what’s going to follow here is a step-by-step breakdown, comparing and contrasting both canoe and SUP at each point of the stroke.  Hopefully, this will make watching the canoe events in Paris that much more interesting for SUP paddlers.

Selection of athletes used in comparisons

My intention is to look at a few different athletes in both canoe and SUP, but am limited in who I can chose by available video.  There’s no shortage of suitable canoe video as these races are always held on straight, buoyed, courses that allow for excellent video coverage that follows the racers over distances ranging from 200m to 1000m.  Similarly, there is no shortage of very good video of athletes racing 200m SUP.  Again, racing on a short, buoyed course allows much better video coverage.  Unfortunately, grabbing good video, suitable for a video analysis, from distance or technical races in SUP is much more difficult. 

To find a SUP distance racer to use for this comparison I had to look at a lot of video. I had a short list of a few athletes that I ideally wanted to use but really wasn’t sure what I would be able to find in the way of suitable video of them.  My selection would ultimately be determined by what kind of video I could find.

The first comparison I’ve chosen is Andrey Kraytor, a World Champion in the C1 200m relay in 2013 and 2014 and European Champion in C1 200m in 2015 and 2016, and the 2024 European Champion in 200m SUP.  Why not look at how the same athlete approached paddling each craft at the highest level, and how he may have had to modify his paddling in the switch from canoe to SUP?  I already had his Euro SUP video on hand and knew exactly where to find some quality video of him in C1.   

The second comparison I’ve chosen is between 2021 Olympic Champion in women’s C1 200m, Nevin Harrison, and 2023 SUP 200m World Champion, Seychelle Webster.  Again, I knew exactly where to find suitable video of each. 

Lastly, I decided to look at technique in events that are longer than sprints lasting less than one minute.  For this, I’ve selected one of the canoe greats, multiple time Olympic Champion Sebastian Brendel from Germany.  There is no shortage of excellent video of Sebastian racing.  Finding a SUP distance athlete to compare him to was more of a challenge.  The nature of SUP distance races means that it is harder to find really high-quality video suitable for a technique analysis.   In the end, I settled on using Michael Booth, both because he’s been as successful in SUP as Brendel has been in sprint canoe and because I found some good quality, side-on video of him racing. 

Comparison format

I’ll look at each comparison separately with both video of each athlete and then individual video frames captured from the video, noting similarities and differences between the canoe and SUP stroke at common points in the stroke.

I’ll look at the videos first, pointing out elements of technique that can be clearly seen in “real time” with the naked eye.  We’ll also be able to get a feeling for the rhythm or tempo of each stroke as well as the cadence. 

To see things in greater detail, it is always necessary to look at video “frame-by-frame”.  So, I’ll then take things to the next level, comparing equivalent frames from each stroke to see similarities/differences between the two strokes.  

Upon completion of each comparison, I’ll draw some conclusions based on the observations and then draw some more conclusions based on the slightly larger sample size of all three comparisons at the end.

Suggested reading

Before going any further, I’d strongly suggest reading “The Six Fundamentals of Paddle Technique”.  While I wrote this post with SUP in mind, the principles apply to all paddle disciplines and were definitely things that I thought about in my 17-year career racing canoe internationally.  Reading this post will help you better understand what I’m looking at in each comparison and better appreciate what both the SUP and canoe athletes are trying to do as they paddle.

What differences should we expect to see between SUP and canoe?

Before starting, let’s get some of the obvious differences we should expect to see between SUP and canoe out of the way.

With SUP paddlers standing and able to move around and change their stance while paddling, we should expect to see SUP athletes using more legs than canoe athletes, who paddle from a high-kneel position and are unable to move around or change their “stance’. 

Canoe athletes are obviously lower and therefore closer to the water, while SUP athletes are further from the water.  We should therefore expect to see canoe athletes with their bottom hands closer to the paddle blade than SUP athletes.  This means that their bottom hands will also always appear closer to the water.  Though SUP paddles are obviously longer in terms of overall length, because canoe paddlers are kneeling, their paddles are usually taller relative to their position in the boat than a SUP athlete’s is relative to their position on their board.  As a result, we should expect to see higher top hands at the catch and through the loading phase of the stroke in canoe athlete’s than in SUP athletes. 

Lastly, because SUP athletes are further from the water than canoe athletes, it is reasonable to expect to see them bending more at the waist to fully load the paddle than canoe athletes.

As these differences are obvious and expected, I won’t spend that much time discussing them in each comparison. Instead, I’ll look for differences or similarities that are less obvious or predictable. 

Comparison 1 – Andrey Kraytor in SUP vs. Andrey Kraytor in canoe

Let’s begin by taking a look at video of Andrey in the final of the 200m SUP at the 2024 European Championships (first video) and training in C1 circa 2016 (second video).  These videos are both taken from the paddling side so lend themselves very well to comparison.

At first glance we can see some clear similarities, particularly in how forward Andrey’s body is in both SUP and canoe, allowing him to get his blade buried quickly with good reach, positive blade angle and considerable body weight on the blade right from the moment of entry. His stroke rate in this SUP clip is 87 strokes/min, while in the canoe clip it is 78.  Is this difference in rate because he’s racing in the SUP clip and only training in the canoe clip?  Or, is it because rate is generally higher on a SUP than in a canoe?  We’ll need more information to draw these types of conclusions.

We can also clearly see that both the SUP and canoe strokes have clear “loading” and “unloading” phases.  The loading phase in both is characterized by the hips moving backward to drive the stroke as body weight loads onto the blade and the blade gets deeper in the water.  Positive blade angle is slowly lost with the deepest part of the stroke being where the blade seems to be passing through vertical. 

The unloading phase in both appears to occur where the blade approaches the body and can be clearly seen to be characterized by the hips changing direction and “reloading forward” while the blade is still buried, effectively allowing them to push the board/boat forward past the paddle at the exit.  The motion of the hips reloading forward under the upper body makes it appear in both SUP and canoe that Andrey has stood/sat up into or towards the paddle. 

We can see in both SUP and canoe that right out of the exit his body is in position for the next stroke.  He’s literally paddling out of one stroke right into the next.  All he really needs to do is extend his arms and get some shoulder rotation to be ready for the next catch.

Lastly, we can see that from his set up position in both SUP and canoe, he bends at the waist while maintaining his rotation and his upper body angles to catch the water.  This also helps him conserve blade angle as he catches.  He very clearly is not “pulling to catch” but “reaching to catch”. 

It’s clear that his movements in both SUP and canoe are direct, forceful and dynamic.

In order to see more, we need to look at each video frame-by-frame.  Let’s look at a series of 6 frames from the SUP and canoe videos for comparison.

The “Set-Up”

These are “set-up” photos.  In both SUP and canoe, Andrey is in a very forward position.  In SUP, because he is standing, this is characterized by significant ankle flexion and a very visible forward lean right from the feet.  In SUP, his hips are as far forward as his feet.  In canoe, he is leaning forward with his kneeling knee so that his hips are stretching way forward, almost as if he were doing a hip flexor stretch.  In both SUP and canoe, his upper body position is similar.  We see a straight, fully extended bottom arm and clear shoulder rotation.  He is leaning forward from the waist.  The most significant difference between the two is that in SUP, his bottom arm reaches slightly down from horizontal, while in canoe it is horizontal to the water.

His top arm, meanwhile, in both SUP and canoe, is slightly bent.  His top hand is higher in canoe than in SUP because, as we’ve discussed earlier, the paddle is longer relative to his height in the boat than it is on a SUP.

The Catch

These are both “catch” photos.  In both SUP and canoe, Andrey has done a good job of maintaining all the angles he established in the set up.  He’s maintained most of the very open angle between his bottom arm and his torso, maintained most of his shoulder rotation and most of his positive blade angle.  In both SUP and canoe, he’s done this by “reaching to catch” or keeping his bottom hand extended forward while bending at the waist and dropping his paddling side shoulder to bury the blade and gathering lots of water that he’ll hold on the blade through the stroke.  In both instances, his hips have moved very little.  He’s holding his hips forward till he begins to pull the buried blade. 

Loading

In these photos, he has very clearly begun to pull.  In SUP, the blade is at its deepest point in the water and the paddle shaft is now slightly negative as he’s used up his shoulder rotation.  He’s clearly thrust his hips backwards to drive the pull against the water held on his blade.  Similarly, in canoe, we can see that he has used up his shoulder rotation through this part of the pull while driving the work against the water held on his blade by moving his hips backwards.  Like SUP, this is the blade’s deepest point in the water. 

The main difference between SUP and canoe is the degree to which he has bent at the waist and the height of his bottom hand from the water.  Because he is standing on a SUP and his upper body is much further from the water, he’s required to bend more at the waist than in canoe.  Yet, despite this extra bend, his bottom hand is considerably further from the water. 

These frames represent the “loading” phase of the stroke where, in both SUP and canoe, he has continued to climb on top of the paddle with body weight from the catch. 

Unloading, Reload Forward

Here we see Andrey actively engaged in the “unloading” portion of the stroke.  In SUP he can clearly be seen to be “coming up” with the stroke.  We see his legs have straightened and his hips have just begun to “reload forward”, allowing it to appear as if he is beginning to “stand up” after being so bent over.  In canoe, we can see something similar as he’s much more upright than in the previous frame.  Though we can’t see it in the canoe frame, his hips are just starting to reload forward at this point, much like in SUP.  Note that in both cases, though the blade angle is now negative it is still completely buried, meaning that any work he does by reloading his hips forward will result in him pushing himself past the paddle.  In both cases, the blade is still in front of him – it’s in front of his feet on SUP and his kneeling knee in canoe. 

The Exit

These are “exit” frames.  In SUP, his hips have moved much further forward under his upper body, making it appear as if he has “stood up” at the waist.  It’s important to note that this “standing up” results from the big muscles surrounding the hips pushing them forward under his upper body rather than from the small postural muscles of his lower back doing the work.  In fact, in this frame his entire body, other than his arms and shoulder rotation, is almost in the same position as it was in the “set up” in photo SUP 1. 

Though the blade is out of the water in this frame, it is important to note that it has just popped out of the water and that that motion followed the motion of his hips reloading forward under his upper body.  This has allowed him to push himself past the paddle and really accelerate his board off the exit. 

In canoe, we can see a completely analogous position. The hips have clearly reloaded forward, leading the blade’s popping out of the water.  As in SUP, this has resulted in a huge burst of acceleration off of the exit.  As with SUP, in canoe his lower body is almost in the exact position that it was in photo canoe 1.  In fact, he’ll be entirely ready for the next stroke simply by extending his arms forward and rotating his shoulders.

Transition to next set up and catch

Here, we see Andrey on his SUP beginning to extend towards his next set up and catch by extending his arms and beginning to rotate his shoulders.  His lower body is already pretty much in “catch position”.  He’ll just bend his knees a bit more at the catch to help get the blade into the water more quickly.  Similarly, in canoe, we see Andrey passing through an analogous position in the exact same process.  In this frame, he just needs to finish extending his arms and rotating his shoulders to return to photo canoe 1.

For Andrey, the similarity in SUP and canoe technique is extreme.  This should not be too surprising because of his high-level canoe background.  It can be summarized as follows:

• Forward position of the body such that the center of mass is clearly in front of the point of contact with the board/boat (in canoe point of contact is kneeling knee).  Hips are forward.  Upper body rotation and extension of paddling side arm put him in a position that encourages him to get the blade buried quickly at the catch with a large of amount of body weight on blade immediately
• Conservation of shoulder rotation and blade angle at catch which is executed by bending at the waist while “reaching to catch” with the paddling side hand
• Conservation of rotation and blade angle through the first part of the pull as upper body weight continues to pile on blade.  This “loading” phase of the stroke is entirely driven by backward movement of the hips
• Beginning to “unload” immediately upon completion of loading (point where hips have stopped moving backward and blade angle has just begun to turn negative).  This is driven by continuing to pull the boat/board towards the paddle using core muscles and hips
• Ultimately pushing himself past the paddle by squeezing the glutes and reloading hips forward under the upper body, which in turn initiates the blade popping out of the water.  This motion sees his body return to the position it’s in at the catch.  All he has to do is extend his arms as he rotates his shoulders forward

Comparison 2 – Seychelle Webster in SUP vs. Nevin Harrison in canoe

This is an interesting comparison.  Both videos are 200m finals at the highest level.  Nevin is racing in the Olympic final in Tokyo in 2021.  Seychelle is racing in the ICF World Championships final in 2023.  Unfortunately, the camera for both was on the left side and they are paddling on the right.  However, the fact that they are both being viewed from the same side allows us some consistency in our comparison. 

In the video clip of Nevin’s final (first), she is paddling at 87 strokes/min.  In her final, Seychelle is paddling at 98 strokes/min (second video).  Interestingly, this difference in rate is very similar to the difference in rate we saw in Andrey’s videos, with SUP being approximately 10 strokes/min higher. 

Again, we see some clear similarities between Nevin and Seychelle.  Both are really far forward as they catch.  Both bend at the waist to catch the water, saving upper body and blade angles as much as possible in the process by “reaching to catch” with their paddling side hands rather than “pulling to catch”.  Both also do a very good job of keeping their hips forward until the blade is secured in the water, then they drive their hips forcefully back to provide the power in the pull. 

Both Nevin and Seychelle continue to load onto the paddle with upper body weight as their hips drive back then, as their blade angles pass through vertical, they begin to “unload”, pulling themselves to their paddle with their core and then reloading their hips forward under their upper bodies. 

In both cases, it is the hips reloading forward that initiates the exit and as the blade pops out of the water, their bodies are basically in position for the next catch.  All they need to do is rotate their shoulders and extend their arms and they are in position for the next stroke.  

Though both Nevin and Seychelle’s respective motions are clearly unique to them and different when compared to Andrey’s, they are at the same time very, very similar. 

Let’s take a look at this comparison more closely by examining a series of 6 corresponding frames from each video.

Set Up

In these frames, both Seychelle and Nevin are passing through the “set up” position.  We see that both are stretched forward so that their centers of mass are clearly in front of their point of contact with the board/boat.  Seychelle accomplishes this we lots of ankle flexion and by keeping her hips forward.  Nevin accomplishes this by reaching forward with her hips from her kneeling knee. 

There are two noticeable differences between the two.  As she’s on a SUP and further from the water, Seychelle’s bottom arm, unlike Nevin’s, is reaching down towards the water very slightly.  In comparison, Nevin’s is reaching forward almost horizontal to the water surface.  Also, Seychelle’s arm hasn’t yet fully extended and is slightly bent at the elbow, while Nevin has already completely extended hers.  However, in my opinion the most notable difference in these frames is in the degree of shoulder rotation.  Though Seychelle’s paddling side shoulder is rotated forward slightly, her shoulder rotation is much less than Nevin’s. 

Catch

These are “catch” frames.  Both Seychelle and Nevin have “dropped” their bodies towards the water while maintaining full extension with their paddling side arms.  In fact, Seychelle’s arm is more fully extended in this frame than it was in the set up.  This allows both, as we can see, to maintain a considerable positive blade angle as the blade begins to gather water. 

Both Seychelle and Nevin do a great job of staying forward with their hips as they catch.  This allows them to keep their center of mass forward, ensuring body weight gets on the blade immediately at the catch.  Also, by waiting till the blade is buried before beginning to drive their hips back, it means that everything their hips can offer to the stroke can be applied through a longer distance of pull against the fully loaded blade. 

The one notable difference between the two in these frames is that Seychelle drops to the water primarily by bending at the waist, while Nevin does it more by dropping her paddling side shoulder.  This is not surprising, given the much greater shoulder rotation shown by Nevin in the set up and the fact that, since she is standing, Seychelle is further from the water.

Loading and Pull

These frames are “pull” frames.  Both Seychelle and Nevin have “loaded” their paddle by driving their hips back forcefully and “climbing on top of their paddle” with their upper body weight. 

Both Seychelle’s and Nevin’s hips are much further back than in the previous frames, indicating how much they have moved while driving the stroke.  Both have seen their paddles pass through vertical and blade angle begin to turn slightly negative.  In both cases, the blade is still well in front of their point of contact with the board/boat (feet for Seychelle and kneeling knee for Nevin).  Both have finished loading upper body weight onto their paddles and will not bend over any further in their strokes.  So, more precisely, these frames represent the end of the “loading phase” and the point where “unloading” should begin. 

The most obvious differences between the two in these frames are dictated more by the craft they are paddling than their technique.  Because Seychelle is standing and thus further from the water, her bottom hand is much further from the water than Nevin’s.  Meanwhile, Nevin’s top hand is much higher – a function of her paddle being much longer than Seychelle’s in relation to their position in the boat/board. 

The Exit

These are “exit” frames.  We see that Seychelle has pulled herself to the paddle and the blade is at her feet.  She has begun to reload her hips forward under her upper body and straighten her legs with the blade still in the water, thus pushing herself past the paddle in the process and generating heaps of acceleration.  This movement has initiated her exit and the top of the blade is just visible as it begins to pop out of the water. 

Recovery

We see something similar in Nevin.  Her hips have begun to reload forward as well, moving under her upper body and creating the slightest appearance of an arch in her lower back.  This motion has been accomplished with the blade still entirely buried, thus allowing her to push herself past the paddle and generate considerable acceleration.  In this frame we see her paddle just about to pop out of the water. 

In these next frames we see the blade completely out of the water for both paddlers.  Both paddlers have reloaded their hips forward – Seychelle almost to the position they’re in at the setup and Nevin completely to her set up position.  Again, as we saw with Andrey, these women are paddling out of one stroke right into position for the next. 

These frames show both athletes in the middle of their recovery and headed towards the next catch.  In both instances their bodies, other than arms and shoulder rotation are completely in position for the next catch.  They will both very quickly be in position for their next catch simply by extending their arms and completing their shoulder rotation. 

Understandably, there are a few more differences between the two subjects in this comparison than in our first one, which compared the same athlete paddling on a SUP and in a canoe.  Here, we’ve looked at two entirely different athletes.  We should expect to see more variation in the way they paddle. 

We can summarize what we’ve seen in this comparison as follows:

• Both athletes display a forward position of body such that the center of mass is clearly in front of the point of contact with the board/boat (in canoe point of contact is kneeling knee).  Hips are forward.  Upper body rotation in this instance is greater in canoe, but the extension of the paddling side arms put both in a position that encourages them to get the blade buried quickly at the catch with a large of amount of body weight on the blade immediately
• Both athletes display conservation of shoulder rotation and blade angle at the catch, which is executed by bending at the waist or dropping the paddling side shoulder.  In SUP it appears that the catch is accomplished more through waist bend while in canoe it comes more from dropping the paddling side shoulder. 
• In both SUP and canoe, there is conservation of rotation and blade angle through the first part of pull as upper body weight continues to pile on blade.  This “loading” phase of the stroke is primarily driven by backward movement of the hips
• In both cases, the athlete begins to “unload” immediately upon completion of the loading (point where hips have stopped moving backward and blade angle has just begun to turn negative).  This is driven by continuing to pull the boat/board towards the paddle using core muscles and hips
• In both cases, the paddlers ultimately push themselves past the paddle by squeezing their glutes and reloading their hips forward under their upper body, which in turn initiates the blade popping out of the water.  This motion sees their body position return to that of the catch right out of the exit.  All they have to do is extend their arms and rotate their shoulders forward

Comparison 3 – Michael Booth in SUP vs. Sebastian Brendel in Canoe

This is another very interesting comparison.  Both paddlers are among the top to have ever done their discipline.  Both are better distance athletes than sprinters, though Michael’s greatest successes have come in long distance events and Sebastian’s over 1000m. 

Unfortunately, this comparison was the most challenging to find suitable video for and though the quality of the individual videos is good, they aren’t ideal for comparison as Michael is being filmed from the paddling side and Sebastian from the opposite side.  It’s going to take a bit more effort to identify differences and/or similarities. 

The first video clip of Michael is from the start of a distance race.  I wasn’t able to find a clip with the four consecutive strokes I need to take a stroke rate, but my coach’s eye tells me he’s paddling at about 60 strokes/min in this second clip.  The next video clip is of Sebastian from the last 250m of the C1 1000m final in London in 2012.  He’s stroking 62 strokes/min.  Given that there’s a big difference between a SUP distance race lasting 10 km or more and a 1000m C1 race lasting less than 4 minutes, I don’t think we can draw any conclusions from the stroke rates here.  Instead, we should confine our comparison to the paddlers’ motions. 

As with the other videos we’ve compared, we see some distinct similarities between Michael on a SUP and Sebastian in a C1.  Both get very forward so their center of mass is well in front of their point of contact with their board/boat as they start their stroke.  Both do a great job of catching quickly, saving blade angle and upper body rotation by bending at the waist to catch.  Both do a good job of keeping their hips forward till the blade is set, allowing them to maximize their use during the pull, however Sebastian does this better.  I suggest that much of that has to do with the much rougher water that Michael is paddling in here.  I’ve noticed in video of top SUP athletes that the rougher the water, the more likely they are to see their hips creep out behind them as they are catching.  This is almost entirely a function of maintaining balance in rougher water. 

Both Michael and Sebastian load their upper body weight onto the blade while driving with their hips through the loading phase of the stroke, then begin to unload by reloading their hips forward under their bodies just after the blade has passed through vertical.  This results in a considerable amount of acceleration as they “push themselves past the paddle”.  As their hips reload forward it is the cue for each to pop the blade out of the water and begin their recovery. As their blades exit, their bodies are almost exactly in position the need to be in for the next catch.  All they need to do is extend their arms and rotate their shoulders. 

Let’s take a frame-by-frame look at each of them for a more detailed comparison.

Setup and Catch

These are “set up” frames.  We see Michael in the forward position that we’ve seen both Andrey and Seychelle in.  He’s leaning forward right from his feet with great ankle flexion.  He’s got comfortable upper body rotation and his bottom arm is in the process of completely extending.  It’s not hard to imagine his center of mass being well in front of where he is standing on the board. 

We see that Sebastian is passing through a similar forward position, leaning forward with his kneeling knee so that his hips can be further forward in the boat.  This is analogous to the “ankle flexion position” in SUP.  Like Nevin Harrison, who showed more shoulder rotation than Seychelle in these frames, Sebastian uses more shoulder rotation here than Michael.  Again, it is not hard to imagine his center of mass being well in front of his kneeling knee.

Catch

These are the “catch” frames.  Both Michael and Sebastian have dropped at the waist and with the bottom shoulder to get the blade buried quickly.  They’ve both done a great job of maintaining their rotation, upper body angles and blade angle in this process.  Michael’s hips have moved back slightly in this frame, confirming what we saw in the video in real time – he is losing a bit of his forward hip position in the process of catching.  In comparison, Sebastian’s hips have hardly moved at all from set up to catch and are still very far forward.  This helps him get more weight on his blade immediately at the catch and ensures he’ll have a greater range through which he can drive with his hips in the pull. 

"Pull" or "Loading"

These are “pull” or “loading” frames.  We can see that both Michael and Sebastian have used their hips to work against the water held on the blade as it has moved from a positive angle at the catch to a slightly negative angle here in the pull or loading phase.  In both cases their hips are much further back than in the previous frames.  We can see that both have climbed onto the paddle with their upper body weight as both are leaning over more at the waist than in the previous frames. 

End of Pull

These are definitely “end of pull” or “start of unloading” frames.  We see that both Michael and Sebastian have continued to pull against the water held on their blades by driving their hips back.  Blade angles for both have become even more negative as the blade approaches Michael’s feet and Sebastian’s kneeling knee.  For both, their top hand is still quite high, helping to minimize the loss of blade angle while still exerting pressure directly down the paddle shaft to maintain optimal connection of the blade in the water.

Both are still bent over but have started to come up slightly, though both have yet to really begin to reload their hips forward. 

Exit

These are “exit” frames.  We can see that Michael’s blade is just starting to come out of the water.  His hips are still behind his feet but have begun to reload forward under his upper body.  As such, he appears to be standing more upright than in the previous frame. 

Similarly, Sebastian’s blade is just beginning to exit as well.  His hips have clearly begun to reload forward, as we see his kneeling leg beginning to lean forward again compared to the previous frame.  This forward movement of his hips has helped him become more upright in the boat. 

In both cases, beginning to reload their hips forward with the blade still buried has allowed them to effectively push themselves past their paddles, creating a significant amount of acceleration in the process. 

Reload

In these frames, the exit has just been completed and the blade has popped out of the water.  We see that both Michael and Sebastian are approaching the body positions that they had at the catch.  Michael’s hips are almost as far forward as they are at the catch and he’s just beginning to regain his ankle flexion and forward lean.  Sebastian’s lower body is much closer to the position it has at the catch, though he’ll still continue to reach forward right from his kneeling knee throughout the recovery. 

This trend of paddling off the exit right into the body position for the next stroke is something we’ve noted already in Andrey, Nevin and Seychelle.   In both Michael and Sebastian, it’s not hard to see that all they really need to do to return to the next catch is extend their arms and rotate their shoulders.

Recovery

These frames capture the recovery and help us understand the pattern of movement for both Michael and Sebastian as they extend towards the next catch. We can clearly see that as they are extending their arms and rotating, they are ensuring that they return to the very “forward” position that we see in the “set up” frames.  

While we see small differences between Michael and Sebastian, they have far more in common in their strokes than different.  The main differences seem to be the movement of Michael’s hips compared to Sebastian’s.  Michael doesn’t hold his hips forward quite as well when catching and is just a little later reloading them forward than Sebastian as he exits.  I contend that this has more to do with the distance that he’s paddling and the texture of the water he is paddling in than it has to do with differences in how they paddle. 

As I mentioned earlier, in rougher water, it is not unusual to see hips move back a little early when catching.  This is more a function of trying to maintain balance than anything else.  Similarly, the slower you’re paddling, the less dynamically you tend to reload your hips forward at the exit.  Now, I’m not suggesting that Michael is slow.  On the contrary.  But I am suggesting that if we are looking at him at the start of a 10 km distance race, he’s paddling at a lower percentage of his max than Sebastian is in a 1000m Olympic final.  I believe this explains the difference in their hip reloading at the exit. 

We can summarize this comparison much like we have the others:

• Both athletes display a forward position of the body such that the center of mass is clearly in front of the point of contact with the board/boat (in canoe point of contact is kneeling knee).  Hips are forward.  Upper body rotation in this instance is greater in canoe, but extension of the paddling side arm put both in a position that encourages them to get the blade buried quickly at the catch with a large of amount of body weight on the blade immediately
• Both athletes display conservation of shoulder rotation and blade angle at the catch which is executed by bending at the waist and dropping the paddling side shoulder.  In SUP, it yet again appears that the catch is accomplished more through waist bend while in canoe it comes more from dropping the paddling side shoulder
• In both SUP and canoe, there is conservation of rotation and blade angle through the first part of pull as upper body weight continues to pile on blade.  This “loading” phase of the stroke is driven primarily by backward movement of hips
• In both cases, the athlete begins to “unload” immediately upon completion of loading (the point where hips have stopped moving backward and blade angle has just begun to turn negative).  In SUP this is occurring more slowly than in canoe, however this is largely due to the intensity of the paddling we’re assessing.  This “unloading” is driven by continuing to pull the board/boat towards paddle using core muscles and hips
• In both cases, the paddlers ultimately push themselves past the paddle by squeezing their glutes and reloading their hips forward under their upper body, which in turn initiates the blade popping out of the water.  This motion sees their body position return to that of the catch.  All they have to do is extend their arms and rotate their shoulders forward

We can see huge similarities between the SUP and canoe strokes in all three comparisons.  Being a canoe paddler for most of my paddling career, I’ve always thought of SUP as C1 done standing up.  It feels so natural for me to paddle on a SUP, especially in flat water on my right side!  This look at some of the best in each paddle discipline shows how very similar the two disciplines actually are.

The principles of paddling technique apply equally well to both SUP and canoe.  Whether standing or kneeling, the paddlers are trying to do the exact same things and, because their position in the board/boat is actually pretty similar, they end up looking quite similar as they paddle.  We’ve seen canoe athletes do very well as SUP paddlers, particularly in flat water, and I am convinced that good SUP athletes would make pretty decent canoe athletes.  However, as always, it’s those that start to paddle when they’re young who’ll end up being the best in the paddle discipline of their choice.  It takes so much time and repetition to be really top level in either.  As such, those that perform at the very highest level in both SUP and canoe are going to continue to be true outliers. 

Here’s hoping this comparison of SUP and canoe will make watching the Olympic canoe events more interesting for SUP paddlers.  The athletes you’ll be watching have much more in common with you than you might think. 

Happy paddling!

More Posts from Larry Cain:

• Spring Base Training Program Starts MONDAY, March 17th
• Unlocking Your Paddling Potential with Sports Science
• When to Intensify Your Paddling Program: A Smart Approach to Training Progression
• How to Handle Training When You Get Sick
• Transitioning to the Spring Competitive Program: What You Need to Know
• Mastering the Exit: Fine-Tune Your Paddling Technique Off the Water
• Mastering the Pull: Overcome Common Paddling Mistakes This Offseason
• Welcome to Winter Training
• Mastering Paddle Technique Off the Water
• Set Achievable Paddling Goals for 2025 Part 2