SOF: Italy strike gold again on final flourish in Hyères

Italy’s sailors shone even brighter with two more golds on another perfect day in the Bay to finish the 57th Semaine Olympique Française de Hyères – TPM, the second event of the Sailing Grand Slam series. 

Italy topped the unofficial medal table with three golds and two silvers overall. They shared the spoils with China last year, but this year have improved again. But France, Australia, China, Argentina and Britain showed their strength through the fleets. 

“It was Champagne sailing today,” Maria Giubilei, who along with Gianluigi Ugolini, overturned the overnight leaders from Argentina to win gold in the Nacra 17 in fine foiling conditions.  “We have three golds and a silver. It's a beautiful week for Italy!”

Surely only in Hyères can this amount of Champagne and Olympic sailing have been consumed in a week. There was fine racing on all six days and you could not have designed better conditions for race courses nor more beautiful surroundings between the Giens peninsula and the Îles d’Or. The forecast westerlies arrived early and the Nacra 17, 49er and FX finals began at 10.30 in 15 knots and a gently rippling sea state. The wind built towards 18 knots when the 470, ILCA 6 & ILCA 7 went out an hour later. There was a new format for the week the two-race finals for the six fleets racing today, and the same drama, especially in the ILCA 6 and Nacra 17 which saw the overnight leaders unseated.  

And if it seemed like plus c'est la même chose this month as Australia’s double Olympic champion, Matt Wearn, won his second event gold, Italy’s double Olympic champions, Ruggero Tita & Caterina Banti, finishing fourth after breaking their gennaker tack on Thursday was a cautionary tale. Gold is never guaranteed. 

Ed Russo, SOF Event Director

“For the athletes, it was a great week. The weather was perfect, and they were able to race for all six days. We were able to complete 100% of the programme, even with the iQFOiLs, which struggle to race in winds below 9-10 knots. So, it was truly a fantastic edition. Two years before the Games, this 57th SOF is important because we are in a period of selection for the format of finals they will have for the Olympic Games. This decision was made last November by World Sailing, on the condition that the new format be tested at the SOF. It was a major test for the new format, which we used for all six boat classes today. The aim is to have a more open format, giving more opportunities to the 10 boats in the final to reach the podium. There is also incredible organisation here in Hyères: the French Sailing Federation (FFV), the city of Hyères, and all its services have contributed to making the event happen. There are 200 volunteers who give their all; without them, none of this would be possible!”

Véronique Bernardini, Mayor of Hyères 

“The 57th French Olympic Sailing Week has come to a close after an intense week, blessed by exceptional - and sometimes challenging! - conditions on our stretch of water that is recognised as one of the most beautiful in the world,” “In Hyères, we choose to fully embrace our identity: we are a city of the sea, of sport, and of community. This ambition will continue to guide all we do. Bon vent and the best of luck to everyone.”

Spain’s Jordi Xammar Hernández & Marta Cardona Alcántara were dominant this week, guarded their lead in the finals today, and won gold. After finishing second here last year, they went one better. They kept Britain’s Martin Wrigley & Bettine Harris in their sights, managed the leaderboard and finished fifth behind behind them twice. Wrigley & Harris’s two third place finishes gave them silver, and France’s Matisse Pacaud & Lucie de Gennes guaranteed bronze with a fourth place in the first race, meaning the podium finished exactly as it had in Palma. It has been a very good week for all three boats and the Spanish in particular. 

Jordi Xammar Hernández & Marta Cardona Alcántara (ESP)

“It's been a great week. First of all, we had a great event; wind, sun, great conditions, warm. It's been one of the best French Olympic weeks I've ever done - weather-wise! It's a week we target a lot, one of the most important weeks of the year.  So obviously very, very happy to take the win. We've felt very, very strong in all conditions, and it's something we were not feeling super strong about and I think we've been working quite a lot and it seems like we found exactly what we were missing. Once you have good boat speed, good technique, and good decisions, it’s good!  It’s been kind of a different day, you know? Normally you target doing your best race, today we were targeting just staying close to the to the British and just winning  a couple of points. So it's a bit of mixed feelings because you're not pushing 100% but still, it was more about being intelligent.”

Italy’s Sofia Giunchiglia & Giulia Schio continued on from their fantastic Friday with an outstanding Saturday, winning both finals to take gold. They struggled in the big chop waves in the middle of the week, but when the Bay of Hyères was flat they completely dominated. The Sicilian duo’s first win had guaranteed it. Their closest challengers, Australia’s Laura Harding and Annie Wilmot, could only finish seventh leaving the gap at an insurmountable 12 points. The Australians finished fourth in the second final to hold on to silver and hold off the great surge up the leaderboard by France’s Manon Peyre & Amélie Riou, whose two second places brought them bronze. 

Sofia Giunchiglia & Giulia Schio (ITA)

“Today was really amazing, we felt confident in these conditions, our technique was good, we pushed it and were really fast, made good starts. There are no words to describe how happy we are, this is our first win in the World Cup. Winning is always a good feeling, but winning with two bullets in the medal races has an even different taste.”

China’s Zaiding Wen & Tian Liu’s consistent Friday paid dividends on Saturday as they wrapped up the gold after the first Final, they were third behind Ireland’s Robert Dickson & Sean Waddilove who finished second, but that gave the Chinese a 10-point cushion. Wen & Liu said the result was extra significant because this month was their qualification for the Asian Games, and they will now represent China after they finished ahead of their national rivals, who had taken bronze in Palma. 

France’s Erwan Fischer & Clément Péquin could only manage sixth leaving them third overall but level on points with the Irish going into the second final. But the Dickson & Waddilove won their battle, finishing fifth to take silver, with the French taking bronze in seventh.

Zaiding Wen & Tian Liu (CHN) 

“We had good conditions in Hyères, we had good starts, good speed. And yeah, we managed things very well. We're happy about that!  It really paid off. We had all the conditions this week, strong, light, and we just kept the results stable. And finally, we got the best result!  We got the best results from the big winds and the huge waves (Wednesday and Thursday). We like challenging conditions. I think for the 49er, we always have very tight competitions, the fleet is a very high level. We’re so glad to compete with the top teams.”

In two hard fought finals, Italy’s Gianluigi Ugolini & Maria Giubilei, did what they needed to do and finished ahead of the overnight leaders, Argentina’s Olympic silver medallists Mateo Majdalani and Eugenia Bosco in both races to take gold. The Italians had started the day just two points behind but managed third in the first race to jump past the Argentinians in sixth. Fourth place in the second race was enough with the Argentinians back in sixth. It was a second Sailing Grand Slam silver for the Argentinians after silver in Palma.

Behind them Tim Mourniac & Aloïse Retornaz held on to bronze by just a point from Italy’s double Olympic champions, Ruggero Tita & Caterina Banti. The Italians were playing catch-up after breaking their gennaker tack on Thursday and won the first race amid plenty of drama with the British boat capsizing. But the French managed second and although they were 10th and last, the Italians could only finish seventh. One more place and they would have taken bronze. 

Gianluigi Ugolini & Maria Giubilei (ITA)

“It was beautiful, we had perfect conditions out there. We knew we had to beat the Argentinians and finish always in front of them. So that's what we managed to do, so we're very, very happy. We know that we are fast in these conditions  We need to do an easy start, and put the bow in front of them. In the first race, we didn't have a nice start, but we managed to be in front of them. We had around 15-18 knots and when the course is short and a lot of boats are rounding the marks, it's not that easy as it looks, but still, I think it was Champagne sailing today, beautiful for Nacra; flat water, very good wind, so it was very nice. So far we have three golds and a silver. It's a beautiful week for Italy! Italy worked well this winter! We were chasing a lot this week, because in the last regatta we did we lost the win in the last race in the final. We wanted this and finally we got it!”

USA’s Charlotte Rose beat overnight leader, Ireland’s Eve McMahon, the champion in Palma to win gold. It was Rose’s second SOF title after winning in 2024 and she managed the Finals expertly. In their race-within-a-race Rose finished second to McMahon’s third in the first. McMahon led by one point going into the second final but Rose managed to finish sixth and put a boat between them as McMahon came in eighth.

Hungary’s Mária Érdi overtook the Netherlands’ Maxime van de Werken-Jonker’s overnight lead to win bronze with a second place finish in the second final. 

Charlotte Rose (USA)

“Going into the last race, my team and I played out the two races really well. I just attacked the race, I knew I was strong in these conditions, so, go with what I see and any chance to slow Eve down I did, and all the cards played out. That second upwind I knew she was in front and I was like, I just need to get my speed back and I made it happen; I tacked on the right shifts and once I was ahead I just kept going until the end and it all worked out - I’m really happy about it! I’m going to wake up the next day and do it all over again and work just as hard. A lot of the processes that my coach and my team have been working on for the past year and a half is obviously paying off and we are just going to keep doing that. I won here two years ago and Hyères is one of my favourite venues. Last year, I almost won and ended up fourth, the year before I wore yellow, so Hyères is my favourite spot and to come away with gold means a lot.”

Australia’s double Olympic champion, Matt Wearn, wrapped up gold as the battle for silver between the two Brits raged behind him. After taking over a year out following winning the Paris 2024 Olympics, Wearn has now won both his comeback events and both Sailing Grand Slams, Palma and then Hyères, in a month. 

Britain’s Michael Beckett prevailed over his compatriot, Elliot Hanson, reversing their podium finish in Palma. Beckett had a lead overnight and guarded that in their race-within-a-race as they finished 10th (last) and 9th in the first Final with Wearn looking on from mid-fleet. Hanson almost did enough in the second Final, finishing second as Beckett trailed in 8th, but Beckett took silver by two points. 

Matt Wearn (AUS)

“Happy to be on the top step and show that it was a good week of racing. I think the first race you’ve just got to go and race and try and win the race itself and then go from there, and obviously things sort of fell in my favour for the next race that I could just go and  keep clean and finish the race basically.  I was just doing my own thing. Not too dissimilar to, I guess, to a normal medal race if you've already won beforehand. I think it's like my 13th or 14th Hyères, it’s always nice to come back and it offers up a good range of conditions as well, it’s a good place to come and race! You're always having to work quite hard. But I’m coming back pretty fresh (after a year out) and I think that's sort of mentally is helping me a little bit and the physical side of things is coming back quite nicely as well. All-in-all, pretty happy with where I'm at.”