Nacra 17, three-way challenge. Who will go to the Olympics (to win)?

Olympics on the Nacra 17 mixed catamaran, for Italy from now it’s a three-way challenge.

The first World Cup regatta of the Olympic sailing season, the Princesa Sofia Trophy in Palma, returned us an Italian national team as healthy as ever, amid surprises and reconfirmations. The latter come from the Nacra 17 dream team, which tells of an Italy still at the top of the class, true dominators of the Palma event, with a silver (Bissaro-Frascari) and a bronze (Ugolini-Giubilei). The Italian feast closes with the fourth-place finish of the reigning Olympic gold medalists, Tita-Banti (reigning Sailing Newspaper Sailors of the Year), with 3 crews in the top 4 places in the rankings. Precisely the Nacra 17 is the class where once again, as in the last quadrennium, the internal selection toward Paris 2024, Marseille for sailing, is most “complicated” and uncertain.

Coach Ganga Bruni’s Dream Team

Behind such a strong team is Palermo coach Gabriele“Ganga” Bruni, who is now in his third four-year Olympic term at the helm of the Blue Nacra. This winter Bruni decided to have the crews train in Cagliari, in part to make it easier for Vittorio Bissaro and Ruggero Tita, who are also involved in Luna Rossa’s America’s Cup campaign.

Tita and Bissaro, it is no mystery, are avowed rivals in the national team even though they have long been game to work together. Dockside rumors tell that spontaneous mutual sympathy did not exactly run between the two in the past, and the rivalry has only flared up as, with bowwomen Maelle Frascari and Caterina Banti, these two crews played for a pass to the Tokyo Olympics. We all know how it turned out, with the victorious Tita-Banti campaign and the historic gold won.

With the start of the new four-year term, the challenge began again, and initially it seemed that Roger and Catherine might have an easy time. Compounded by a long injury to Maelle Frascari, 2022 was a solo affair for the reigning Olympic gold medalists who dominated far and wide. Late last season, however, the music changed.

Bissaro-Frascari returned to continuous training, and at the Italian Championship in November 2022 they won the title by beating Tita-Banti themselves. It seemed like an interlude, but in the first regatta of 2023, the Princesa Sofia Trophy, it happened again.

Those in the know say that the Blue Flames duo right now are the fastest in the Nacra fleet, and that Tita-Banti no longer have the overpower they showed in 2022. That being the case, with just over a year to go before the Olympics, the domestic selection could be back in the balance, while still remaining logos of the undisputed favorites, not least because 2023 has the world review weighing on the menu.

Dream Team Nacra 17, the third wheel.

Beware, however, of viewing the Italian Nacra 17 issue as a two-man challenge for the Olympic pass. In the wake of the two more experienced crews just mentioned are two young certainties, Gianluigi Ugolini and Maria Giubilei, bronze medalists in Palma. Year after year the couple (they are also sentimental in life) is an increasingly constant presence in the lofty parts of the rankings. Indeed, Gianluigi and Maria in Palma have not been a surprise at all and have shown that they can play on a level playing field with everyone, including the Tokyo Olympic medalists. The two most experienced crews are warned, they will also have to watch their backs, the issue of internal selection may not be just a two-man challenge, watch out for missteps.

Nacra 17. Who will go to the Olympics?

The 2023 season promises to be particularly busy for the blue Nacra 17, with the double work of Olympic preparation and America’s Cup campaign. Still having to hold it all together will be Gabriele Bruni, who will have to manage his own, keep any conflicts at bay, and maintain an equidistant judgment on everyone.

It is likely that the selection of the crew that will go to the Olympics will take place no earlier than the spring of 2024, only a few months before the start of the Games. Results and continuity will count, the ability to perform in dry races such as Medal Races, especially in rainbow events such as World or European Championships. In short, a single positive result is not enough to go to the Olympics with a team of this level: in addition to technical ability, mental solidity, killer instinct in moments of maximum tension and the ability to perform at their best in critical moments will be needed. But Italy’s Nacra 17 Dream Team definitely looks up to the challenge.

Mauro Giuffrè