Hyeres Olympic regattas: it’s super Italy with a silver and a bronze

We had left Italy’s national Olympic sailing team in Palma de Mallorca for the season opener of the Princesa Sofia Trophy, we find it back in France, in Hyeres, for the second leg of the World Cup. Change the performers and the result improves: compared to Palma, Italy in fact brings home two medals, with Germani-Bertuzzi silver in the 49er FX and Ugolini-Giubilei bronze in the Nacra 17.

Hyeres World Cup: – Ugolini/Giubilei new blue stars

This early in the season Gianluigi Ugolini and Maria Giubilei have confirmed themselves as the most consistent pair in the blue Nacra 17. They may not be the fastest ever, but they are the ones that maintain the most consistent results over the long term. The Hyeres regattas were dominated by the British pair Gimson-Burnet, and for the other Italian crews we note the fifth place of Bissaro-Frascari, who had been silver in Palma, with Olympic gold medalists Tita-Banti still rather tarnished, even finishing out of the medal race.

Luigi Ugolini and Maria Giubilei: “A very challenging week ended today with a third place that satisfies us especially in light of the difficult wind conditions we faced and certainly not ideal for this class. We proved to be consistent even in these conditions. We will resume training immediately to always give our best.”

For the other two top Italian crews, Tita-Banti and Bissaro-Frascari, it remains to be seen how much the double work between Olympic catamaran and America’s Cup ends up affecting the results of the former. Let’s not forget that internal selection is underway for the crew that will represent Italy in Paris 2024, Marseille for sailing, and the Olympics take place just 2 months before the America’s Cup, scheduled for late September 2024.

Hyeres World Cup – Surprise in the 49 FX

Excellent second place for Germani-Bertuzzi who confirmed themselves as the most on-ball Italian crew in the Olympic skiff. They led for part of the week, ultimately defending a silver that smacks of continuity with the good things they had already shown at Pala.

FIV Technician Gianfranco Sibello: “Regatta finished very well with second place on the podium by Germani-Bertuzzi who intelligently managed the very tight Medal Race that saw them easily control their direct opponents. Week closed as best we could, we were able to get some details right compared to Palma, and this allows us to look positively at the future. Of course, you have to keep your concentration high at all times because the fleet is becoming more cohesive and higher level.