Kai Lenny: winner of the 20th Molokai 2 Oahu Paddleboard World Championships | Photo: M2O

Kai Lenny has set a new record at the 20th anniversary of the Molokai 2 Oahu Paddleboard World Championships (M2O).

The Hawaiian waterman concluded the Men's Unlimited Stand Up Paddleboard (SUP) division in four hours, seven minutes, and 41 seconds, and beat Connor Baxter's 2014 record by a minute and a half.

"This is the hardest race in the world. It was so difficult. You have the fastest guys. I figured I had to get a win in myself soon because everyone is so much faster, and it is getting harder to do it. But this year I really focused, and I think I haven't been that focused in a race before - reading each bump and everything else was blurred out," explained Kai Lenny.

"I wasn't going for the record at all; I was just trying to be ahead of those guys. I just tried to go on the straightest line possible because it is the shortest distance. I just found the rhythm, and this is really a dream come true."

The M20 had it all - sunshine, rain, choppy and flat waters. The 32-mile adventure attracted athletes from 16 nations in the disciplines of stand-up (SUP) and prone paddleboarding.

Matt Bevilacqua also locked in a back-to-back win and a new record. The Tasmanian prone paddleboarder finished the race in four hours, 29 minutes, and 32 seconds, and crushed Jamie Mitchell's time by 11 minutes.

Jordan Mercer secured her sixth consecutive win in the Women's Unlimited Prone division (5:32:42), while German veteran Sonni Honscheid won her third back-to-back M2O in the Unlimited SUP event with 5:01:40.

Top Stories

The small fishing town of Bathsheba in Barbados is home to one of the most surprising right-hand reef breaks on the planet. Here's what makes Soup Bowl such an incredible wave.

Kelly Slater and Kalani Miller announced they are expecting a baby. It's a boy.

Surfing is all about working the unbroken wave face and maximizing riding time. But how can you optimize and balance these two goals that cancel each other out?

Big waves don't just appear out of nowhere. The formation of abnormally large swells is a sum of layers, normally invisible to the human eye.