How the Red Bull Nevsky Sup competition went: sapa swim around the Peter and Paul Fortress

On August 28, the territory of the Peter and Paul Fortress turned into the Mecca of sup-surfers and extreme sports fans for several hours. Red Bull team with traditional scale held a unique saps race Red Bull Nevsky Sup.

104 sapsurfers from different parts of the country took part in the race. It consisted of two stages: on the first stage 60 participants of the final race were selected as a result of one qualifying lap. The second stage consisted of 6 laps, each of which cut off the 10 competitors with the worst time. Thus, only 10 sapsurfers made it to the last lap.

Each lap around the fortress equals about 2.5 km and a dozen sights on the participants’ way: you can contemplate the Winter Palace, the Palace and Trinity bridges, the Exchange Embankment, the spire of the Admiralty and the dome of St. Isaac’s Cathedral, as well as the Palace Embankment and the vaults of the Peter and Paul Fortress. It seems that this distance can rightfully claim to be the most spectacular of all existing ones.

This race was made special not only by the early start and the dawn sun over St. Petersburg, but also by the completely free water area of the river within the distance. The organizers created ideal conditions for the participants – the city administration obtained permission to block the water area. This allowed to ensure safety and absence of waves from passing ships.

Artyom Izmailov - winner of the race in the men's event

Artyom Izmailov – winner of the race in the men’s classification

The best time on the distance was shown by Artyom Izmailov from St. Petersburg, who managed the 15 km distance in 1 hour 29 minutes and 41 seconds. From the very beginning of the race Artyom went into the lead and was more than 11 minutes ahead of second-placed Peter Zagorodny (1 hour 40 minutes 44 seconds). Alexey Sinitsky (1 hour 45 minutes and 4 seconds) took the third place.

Artyom Izmailov

winner of the men’s race

I have great impressions, great feelings. I am very happy that finally in the heart of St. Petersburg there is a competition that gathers a lot of people who want to develop and lead a healthy lifestyle, who want to be in style and ride saps! We have a city standing on water, so I want there to be as many competitions like this as possible!

In the girls’ race the unquestionable leader was Olga Raskina from Moscow (1 hour 40 minutes and 37 seconds), who also dominated throughout the race. Olga became not only the leader of the women’s standings, but also showed the second result in the overall standings.

Olga Raikina - winner of the race in the women's event

Olga Raikina – winner of the race in the women’s standings

Hardly any fans of extreme water sports were surprised by this result – Olga Raskina is a professional windsurfer and in 2014 became vice world champion on the freestyle stage.

Olga Raskina

Winner of the women’s race

Red Bull Nevsky Sup is not only a new race format, it’s also my first trip to St. Petersburg for a sapa competition, and I think it’s one of the most beautiful competitions I’ve been to! Amazing atmosphere, great support, insanely beautiful location – these competitions will definitely be remembered for a long time! One thing I can say for sure – windsurfing and sapsurfing are polarly different things. Try both.

Maria Glukhacheva took second place with a result of 1 hour 42 minutes 22 seconds, Svetlana Bogomolova, who dropped out after the fifth lap, took third place.

In the end I want to share the impressions of a person who has never stood on a sapsurf, attended dozens of different tournaments, but for the first time got fully acquainted with the extreme event from Red Bull.

Naida Saidova

Trends editor

Undoubtedly, the race itself was the brightest, but the atmosphere, which soaked even casual observers, was not inferior to the main program. Almost every participant of the race took their fans with them (let me remind you that the race started at 7:00), and those who stayed on the shore had access to the whole distance. Spectators strolled along the majestic walls of the Peter and Paul Fortress and supported the passing participants from land. Even those who had gone to the island early in the morning for a run stayed to watch the athletes after their sessions. Sport remains spectacular if presented in the right way.