Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti Gold Medalists in Nacra 17
Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti Gold Medalists in Nacra 17
Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti rewrite the history of Italian sailing and win the gold medal in Marseille in the Nacra 17 class, repeating their result in the Tokyo Games of 2021. Standing once again on the top step of the podium, the Italian crew confirms itself not only as the best from a technical-sporting point of view, but also the most prepared and determined from a psychological standpoint, able to maintain control of the race and emotions in all weather conditions.
Benefiting from the strong winds on the first day, Ruggero and Caterina immediately moved to the top of the leaderboard and maintained the gap with their opponents even in the weak and unstable breeze of the following days.
At the Medal Race on Thursday, August 8th, the Italian team starts with a 13-point gap on its direct opponent (the Argentine team) and faces a very complex race: the very light wind of about 6 knots, in fact, does not allow Nacra 17 boats to perform at their best and tactically it is not easy to choose the best side of the racecourse in Marseille.
Ruggero and Caterina raced a simply perfect regatta, crossing the finish line in second place after the French team, a result that was more than enough to win the gold medal, their second consecutive after the one they won in Tokyo in 2021.
Ruggero Tita commented: «Winning one gold medal is tough, and winning two in a row is even tougher. Caterina and I knew this before we got here, just as we knew that our time to prepare would be shorter compared to Tokyo. But we did it, and we’re incredibly happy. Now the focus is entirely on the America's Cup. We’ve won our first gold medal, we’ve won our second, and now the next achievement for us Italians is to lift the America’s Cup, something we’ve never done before. And, in my opinion, Luna Rossa has all it takes to succeed. That’s the next goal».
Max Sirena, Skipper and Team Director of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli: «Very well done to Caterina, Ruggero and the whole Federation. This is an extraordinary result for Italian Olympic sailing. Today, with the victory of their second gold medal, the history of this sport has been rewritten by a crew that has been dominating the world sailing scene for eight years. Credit must be given to the Federation, whose work within recent years has revolutionized sailing, and created a pool of young new talent that, also thanks to Olympic successes, guarantees an important future for our sport! This second gold is both a motivation and a responsibility for the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli team, whose goal is to write another important page in this sport during the America's Cup that is about to begin...».
Ruggero Tita, who is part of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli's roster of helmsmen, is one of Italy's greatest sailing talents: awarded with the “Collare d'Oro al merito sportivo” (2018 - 2021 - 2022) and “Rolex World Sailor of the Year 2022”, when just 13 he won the Italian, Swiss and European champion titles in the Optimist class.
He continued to race in the 29er class, to then move on to the 49er, where he became a multiple Italian champion. After participating - with bowman Pietro Zucchetti - in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, he switched to the Nacra 17 class where, with bow-woman Caterina Banti, not only did he win the Tokyo gold, but also several European championships and four world championships (the last of which in May 2024 at La Grande Motte).
