How Anja Apollonio and Bianka Sidová raced their way from the Open Category to the Elite final in Palma.

Paddle Games is still a young event with limited resources. With the support of the RCNP and our generous event sponsors, we are able to invite a number of international athletes each year and cover their participation. But there comes a point when the budget simply runs out.

At the same time, we believe the Open Category should give anyone, elite or not, the opportunity to race against some of the best paddlers in the world.

This year, two of those world-class paddlers decided to come to Palma and enter the Open themselves.

Anja Apollonio is a Slovenian Olympian and World Championship medallist. Bianka Sidová is one of Slovakia’s most exciting young paddlers, a double U23 World Champion. Neither needed another race on their CV. They simply wanted to be part of the Paddle Games.

So they entered the Open. They raced, progressed, and round by round earned their way into the Elite final. Anja finished fourth. Bianka finished sixth.

The Open category was always intended to make Paddle Games accessible. What we are beginning to discover is that it can be much more than that. It can be another way in.

We saw a glimpse of this last year, when Hungary’s Zsóka Csikós entered through the Open, raced her way into the Elite competition, and won it.

At Paddle Games, we want to bring some of the best paddlers in the world together. But we also want to keep the door open. An invitation can get you there. It doesn’t have to be the only way. Once the racing begins, you have the opportunity to earn your place.

For Anja, that meant a very different type of competition from the European and World Championships she is used to.

“I really enjoyed the whole experience. It was something completely different from the races I’m used to, with a great atmosphere and a lot of fun around the event. It felt less serious than the Euros or Worlds, more like athletes getting together, having fun and still racing hard.”

Having fun and still racing hard. That captures Paddle Games better than we could ourselves.

We want athletes attacking races. We want rivalries, close finishes and people desperately trying to beat each other to the line. We want the racing to matter. We just don’t think everything around it has to feel so serious.

Bianka described something very similar.

“What I loved most was getting to see so many friends and fellow paddlers in a much more relaxed and less stressful environment than we’re usually used to at races. We were still competing and pushing ourselves, but at the same time we were laughing, having so much fun together, and genuinely enjoying the whole experience.”

Elite sport asks a lot from athletes. Much of the year is built around selection, qualification, results and championships. Paddle Games is still racing, and people still want to win. But it can also be a place to compete without carrying quite so much weight on your shoulders. To race your friends, try something different, and remember that racing can be fun.

Anja certainly did.

“The 350 m race with the turn was really fun and challenging. The turn makes it a bit of a lottery because you never know which position or side you’re going to choose, so you have to react quickly.”

“I haven’t had so much fun racing in a long time!”

Bianka started in the Open without really knowing where the day might take her. Quite a long way, as it turned out.

“I’m very happy with my performance, especially going from the Open Category all the way to 6th place in the Elite. I didn’t really know what to expect going into it, so I’m proud of how far I was able to progress. I also really enjoyed the race format — it made every round exciting and pushed me to give my best each time.”

That is where the Open becomes particularly exciting for us. You could be an Olympian. A World Champion. One of the best U23 paddlers in the world. Or a young athlete whose name most spectators don’t know yet. You start in the same place. Then you race.

Last year, Zsóka showed it was possible to come through the Open and win the whole thing. This year, Anja and Bianka showed it again in their own way. Perhaps one day somebody we know very little about will arrive in Palma, enter the Open, keep progressing, and suddenly find themselves racing an Olympic or World Champion in an Elite final.

We would love that.

Doing things differently has always been part of Paddle Games. Different formats. Different distances. Different ways of bringing athletes and spectators closer together, and different ways of giving athletes an opportunity — not instead of traditional international racing, but alongside it.

“I would love to see more events like this, and I’m definitely coming back!” Anja said.

Bianka felt the same: “I think this format is exciting for both the athletes and spectators, and it gives paddlers of different levels the opportunity to compete, challenge themselves, and progress. I’d be very happy to take part again!”

That is how the day ended for both of them, not with a start list or a ranking, but on the podium with everyone else, champagne going and “Freed from Desire” playing, dancing with athletes they’d been racing flat out against twenty minutes earlier.

Racing hard. Having fun. In Palma, it turns out, you can do both — and still make the Elite final while you’re at it.