2018 Steeve Teihotaata - Tahiti

Steeve Teihotaata (Tahiti) – Nominee for 2018 Sportsman of the Year

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Represents: Tahiti, Sports: Outrigger Canoe/Va’a (OC1, OC6, V1), SUP

Major Results:

2018:

• Air France Paddle Festival SUP 3rd in Elite Men 24K distance
• Te Aito, first (V1)
• Molokai Solo, second (OC1)

Other:

• 3X Molokai to Oahu OC1 Champion
• 5X Molokai Hoe Champion (OC6)
• 3X Te Aito Champion (V1)
• 4X Hawaiki Hui OC1 Champion
• 2015 11 City SUP Tour Winner
• 2015 Arii Hoe PPT Prône Winner
• 2X Air France SUP Festival Champ
• 2015 Super Aito Va'a runner up

If Tahiti is to be considered one of the strongest paddling nations on the planet, then Steeve (‘Steevey Boy’) Teihotaata is one of its greatest heroes. Already a world-class champion in Outrigger Canoe paddling (Va’a, as it’s known locally), Bora Bora-born Steeve has also transferred his love of the ocean to Stand Up Paddling (SUP) in recent years. Among his numerous accomplishments, he is Captain of the EDT Va’a Team (since 2011) and has won the coveted Molokai Hoe title in OC6 no fewer than five times, as well as the Hawiki Nui Va’a, a similar number of times.

Known for his swift accelerations, Steeve has many international titles to his name as an individual paddler and is the current world champion in Super Aito (the toughest V1 race in the world). A top-ranked SUP paddler, Steeve won the 132-mile SUP 11-City Tour Title in 2015 - a remarkable accomplishment, considering he had only been practicing SUP for six months at the time.

A sporting multi-tasker extraordinaire, Steeve’s talents are distributed among a multiplicity of individual and team Va’a, Outrigger Canoe and SUP disciplines, including: OC6, OCA1 (an outrigger with rudder), SUP and V1 - an outrigger with no rudder, which therefore requires more skill in the ocean. V1 is very popular in Tahiti, where Va’a is the national sport and a great source of national pride.

TESTIMONIAL/QUOTE
“I came to this race shopping for fun, but it looks like that hunger to win is back! I’m so happy to have won the biggest race of the year, my best accomplishment since I last raced it in 2012. I’ve trained like crazy for this and I’m so happy to have reached my goal.” — Steeve Teihotaata, on winning the 2018 Te Aito