Candice Appleby had been contemplating retirement, hanging up her competition paddle to focus on her growing career as a coach and trainer for the sport she loves.

The longtime San Clemente stand-up paddler is one of the winningest athletes in SUP’s short history, dominating at countless events through the years.

With her new business, Ocean Academy, booming, arthritis in her hip and several gold medals, trophies and wins under her belt through her competitive career, she thought, “This is my next chapter, this is my end game as an athlete.

“It’s such an honor to be called a coach,” she added. “I have been very content.”

But for a fierce competitor like Appleby, 37, content just isn’t enough. Competition was once again calling – and the stand-up paddler answered back by winning a gold medal among the world’s best.

Appleby is back at home following a stand-out performance at the International Surfing Association World SUP and Paddleboard Championship in San Juan, Puerto Rico last week, an event that brings the top in the sport to compete not just for country pride and medals, but a chance at qualifying at the 2023 Pan American Games in Chile, the second largest sporting event next to the Olympics.

It was the first return of the ISA SUP and Paddleboard World Champions following a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic. San Clemente-based Team USA took home bronze, with 10 individual medals, including fellow teammates April Zilg and Conner Baxter earning gold in SUP Sprint and Hunter Pflueger taking first spot in both prone sprint and prone technical.

Team France won gold, with Spain earning silver and Japan in fourth place with the cooper medal.

“It’s pretty amazing to be where I am and to win a gold medal again, it’s just a blessing,” Appleby said. “It just kind of baffles me a little bit.”

Growing up, Appleby had always wanted to be a competitive athlete, first eying traditional surfing as her way to compete on the ocean. She was captain of the San Clemente High School surf team, helping to claim four consecutive national titles.

She moved to Hawaii to attend college and sharpen her surfing skills, living on Oahu to train in bigger waves. But then, around 2006, stand-up paddleboards emerged. At first, it was a novelty sport and no one was sure it would even catch on.

Back then, there weren’t enough women competing yet, so she would often be the only female at events.

In 2008, at the Duke Kahanamoku Oceanfest, Appleby was the first and only woman to beat men in a professional SUP event, winning both the women’s and Open Pro divisions.

The Battle of the Paddle at Doheny State Beach grew in those early years, bringing more exposure to the sport. Appleby was always on the winner’s podium, earning six Battle of the Paddle titles, and three more when the event was renamed the Pacific Paddle Games.

She dominated at the bigger, and more prestigious ISA SUP world championships as well. She’s won gold in three technical races and two distance races, a silver in sprint, and a bronze technical medal.

One of her last events before the pandemic hit was the 2019 Pan American Games in Peru. She was leading the pack and riding a wave into the beach on her stand-up paddleboard during the distance race when suddenly the wave jacked up and slammed her hard, a strong rip current sucking her back out over and over as she tried to find safety on shore.

“It was really gnarly. It was the worst beating of my life. The rip, it was the kind that someone could have drowned in,” Appleby said following that event. “I got held under.”

The racer behind her, Brazil’s Lena Guimaraes, also took a fall. But instead of sucking her out, the wave pushed her to the shore and toward the gold medal.

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It wasn’t the way Appleby wanted to end her career, she said. But competitions stopped when COVID-19 hit. Sponsorships dried up. She had to pivot.

Appleby launched Ocean Academy, a SUP training program, using her knowledge gained through the years to teach the next generation of novice and serious competitors. And, with the SUP community growing through the pandemic as people wanted to get outdoors, businesses was booming.

On the water training for six hours a day, paddling 60 miles a week, there was no extra time to train for competition, she remembered thinking.

What she didn’t realize was that while training others, she was conditioning her body. She entered the USA Surfing SUP Surf Championships in June in Oceanside, winning gold in the women’s open division and securing her slot to go to Puerto Rico for the ISA World Championships.

She wanted to go to the Puerto Rico event in the best form possible, mentally and physically. She prayed, she said, asking God for motivation. She changed her diet and started doing heavy weight training at Strong Bodies SC.

“It was kind of miraculous, the way God was answering prayer in my life,” she said. “I went to Puerto Rico feeling confident and grateful. I went with so much gratitude in my heart, there was nothing that was going to phase me, no nerves. It allowed me to stay present.”

The competition was also a chance to see old friends from overseas in the tight-knit SUP community – but in the three-year hiatus, a new crop of fierce competitors had also emerged.

The course in the technical race, where she had to lap five buoys three times and navigate the surf, was challenging with strong winds and currents, she said.

She won her first heat and the semi-finals by a good margin. In the finals she did the same, gaining a lead and keeping it through the race.

“That was what I prayed for that morning – send me a wave early to set me apart,” she said.

Th sport and the level of competition, the skill and talent especially in the women’s side, continues to grow exponentially, Appleby said.

San Clemente’s Candice Appleby earned gold in the ISA SUP World Championships, standing with men’s winner Shuri Araki, age 16. (Photo courtesy of Appleby)

“So to be able to still get to the top and win a gold medal among so many athletes from around the world is such a wonderful feeling and it’s really humbling that I get to do this still,” she said.

She was the oldest  to ever earn a gold medal at the event. Men’s technical race winner Shuri Arakiat, 16, is the youngest.

With Appleby’s gold in the SUP technical and fifth place in the SUP surfing, she became the only athlete to double qualify for the Pan American Games in 2023, where some 6,000 athletes from around the world compete.

The International Surfing Association is making a push to get stand-up paddling into the Olympics by the 2028 games in Los Angeles.

By that time, Appleby will be 42 years old and wonders if she’ll still be at the top of her game.

On her mirror at home she wrote “LA 2028” with the Olympic rings with a dry erase marker – a daily reminder there’s still more in store.

“I’m in great shape, I feel like I’m the strongest and fastest I’ve ever been. If God has more work for me to do out there, I’m going to do it,” Appleby said. “I was taught the things we want in this world are only worth the amount of work we’re willing to put in to get them.