Sailing Olympics, it’s medal for Tita-Banti! What color? We’ll tell you tomorrow

Sailing Italy brings home its second medal at the Marseille Olympics: what color it is, gold or silver, we still don’t know, but the important thing is that we have it in the bag.
Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti are mathematically on the podium after the final day of today’s opening series on the mixed flying catamaran Nacra 17 on the tenth day of competition.

Sailing Olympics, second medal for Italy!

With Marta Maggetti’s gold in the iQFOiLs and Tita-Banti’s silver (not to “cheat”) in the Nacras, the Italian expedition is already in history, having equaled the record of two medals obtained by Italian sailors in Sydney 2000 (Alessandra Sensini’s gold on the Mistral sailing boards, Luca Devoti’s silver on the Finn men’s single).
But beware, the party is not over yet.
Ruggero and Caterina, already Olympic champions in Tokyo, are thirsty for gold: and as we will explain in a moment, they start among the favorites for tomorrow’s Medal Race.
Meanwhile, good news also comes from men’s kitesurfing with the revival of Riccardo Pianosi. But let’s proceed in order.

Nacra 17 – Tita-Banti killer, gold is a whisker away

There was little, very little wind at the Marseille Sailing Olympics today.
The toughest conditions for Ruggero Tita (born in Rovereto, 1992) and Caterina Banti (Rome, 1987): they had already suffered a bit yesterday (if we can define “suffering” as one first place and two sixth places).
Today, for the last three trials before the Medal Race, they were 14 points ahead of Argentines Mateo Majdalani and Eugenia Bosco and New Zealanders Micah Wilkinson and Erica Dawson.

Math that helps our

Let’s do some math, because math is not an opinion. The Azzurri make it to the Medal Race (the very final among the top 10 with placings worth double, i.e., two points to the first, four points to the second, and so on – remember that the one with the fewest points wins) with partials of 1-1-2-1-1-1-1-6-6-UFD-5-2.
Discarding their worst result (UFD, which is worth 20 points, or the number of boats in the race, 19, + 1) they total 27 points.
Argentines Majdalani-Bosco are second with 41 points, 14 points behind.
Virtual bronze are the British, tied with the New Zealanders on 47 points.
Since, as anticipated, the scores in Medal Race are worth double and only the best ten participate, the maximum recoverable gap is 18 points (2 points to the first, 20 to the tenth), so both Anglo-Saxon crews will not be able to catch up with Ruggero and Caterina.

But let’s come to what interests us most, the fight for the gold, for which our Nacra specialists start off with an advantage, not least because the Argentines will have to watch their backs against the Kiwis and the British, who are only six points away from them. Tita-Banti lose the gold medal only if Majdalani-Bosco win the Medal Race and they place between eighth and tenth, or if the Argentines finish second and they make ninth or tenth, or with the combination and it involves the Argentines third and ours tenth.
There is still one pitfall to watch out for: a disqualification for ours and the Argentines in the top four.
So guys, the whole of Italy is asking you: no early starts!
For the rest… let’s go get this second gold you deserve!

Men’s kitesurfing – Pianosi is there!

And now to the other race courses, first and foremost the men’s kitesurfing, which saw 19-year-old Riccardo Pianosi from the Marche region of Italy continue his positive series with a fourth and a first place.
Now, with partials of 10-6-8-14-1-4-1 moved up to fourth place, 20 points with two discards.
Austria’s Valentin Bontus, third, is at three points.
Singaporean Maximilian Maeder at five, the leader, Slovenian Toni Vodisek, at only eight points.

Anything can happen.
We remind you. That the format of kite racing is peculiar. After four days of racing, the top 10 qualify for the Medal Race.
From then on, only the third through 10th place finishers race in the first phase of the Medal, with scores reset.
The top two from this phase then join the first and second overall for the final four. In tomorrow’s races, if Riccardo kicks in again, he could finish in the top two and miss the first phase of the Medal Race(although that is not always an advantage).

Women’s kitesurfing – Maggie Pescetto doesn’t stand idly by

In the women’s kitefoil, however, only one run was possible today: well our Maggie Pescetto, fourth of the day.
With the partials of 5-DSQ-3-10-14-4 she got back on track and is sailing in eighth position.
It is important to stay focused and, above all, in the top ten positions to play everything in the Medal Race where, as we explained, everything resets and gold is always possible.

470 – Berta and Festo out of the Medal

We come to the sore notes of the day.
In the 470 (mixed dinghy), our Elena Berta and Bruno Festo, after a debut with third place that had raised hopes, were unable to find the right chemistry and, unfortunately, are to date the only Italian crew to have failed to hit the Medal Race target (which for the 470 takes place tomorrow).
It will be a final without Azzurri, unfortunately, because Berta-Festo ended their Olympics in 15th position, 12 points away from that 10th place that would have given them access to the Medal.
Too bad: the partials 3-13-12-15-10-DNF-12-11 show that the two have not been in gear, always in the middle of the rankings.
And unfortunately, in the Olympics this is not enough.

ILCA 6 and 7 – Medal Race postponed

The Medal Races of ILCA 6 (women’s single dinghy) and ILCA 7 (men’s single) were to be scheduled today, but too light wind conditions prevented them from taking place.
Last test of strength postponed until tomorrow, then, for our Chiara Benini Floriani and Lorenzo Brando Chiavarini, engaged in their respective disciplines.
As a reminder, Chiara is seventh, with a (albeit very faint) hope of a medal, while Lorenzo is ninth, mathematically off the podium but with a few positions that can be regained.

Sailing Olympics, what happens tomorrow

The men’s and women’s kitefoil races continue tomorrow, August 7, and as many as four medal races should be staged: those of Nacra 17, ILCA 6, ILCA 7 and 470.
But it will all remain to be seen, as the forecast is for very little wind, 3 to 7 knots from the south-southwest. edited by Eugenio Ruocco

• Read all our news about the sailing Olympics

How to follow the sailing Olympics live

You can follow the Sailing Olympics “live” if you have a subscription to Discovery Plus: RAI and other pay channels will broadcast any medal races if there are real medal chances.
Tofind out everything about the schedule, we recommend you check the official World Sailing schedule while to be updated on the results in real time at this link all the rankings. There is also a dedicated page on the Sport Sailing website, Where to follow live race tracking.

• Azzurri at the Olympics: who are the Italians in the hunt for medals
• Everything you need to know about the Olympic classes competing in Marseille

Olympics, how regattas work

Depending on the classes competing(everything you need to know about the classes here), athletes competing in the Marseille Olympics must race for 4, 5 or 6 days.
Each regatta lasts between 15 and 50 minutes depending on the type of boat. In the case of dinghies, skiffs and catamarans (470, ILCA, Nacra 17, 49er and 49er FX) athletes are awarded points equal to their placing in their respective races.
The first is awarded one point, the second two points, and so on.
At the end of the first 4-5 days of racing, the games are “almost done.”
The top 10 ranked crews participate in the very final, called the Medal Race.
Here the rules change, because the points won are worth double: the first gets 2 points, the second 4, and so on.
If you get to the Medal Race with the “short” ranking, this last round is decisive.
In the end, the podium is composed of the athletes/crew with the lowest total number of points. The racing format is different for iQFOil boards and Formula Kite.
In the boards, there are four days of competition and the spots will be different from day to day.
Athletes must alternate between conventional courses, slalom and endurance trials.
In the latter, the points won count double.
The final day is decisive and very intense.
The quarterfinals are reserved for athletes so far ranked from fourth to tenth.
The top two from this “playoff” are selected for the semifinals, which are played in a four-way tie, along with the second and third overall.
The very final is between the top two finishers of the semifinal and the leader of the overall ranking.
The podium is already known before going into the water, only the color of each athlete’s medal to be determined. On the Kites, on the other hand, after four days of racing, the top 10 qualify for the Medal Race.
From then on, only the third through 10th place finishers race in the first phase of the Medal.
The top two from this phase then join the first and second overall for the final four.
In the final, each individual race win is worth one point.
The first to reach 3 points wins the gold medal.