Ernesto De Amicis has been going wingfoil for only three years and is already World Champion
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Ernesto De Amicis, a very young athlete, class of 2008, born in Naples and “residing” in the Reale Yacht Club Canottieri Savoia, has quickly established himself by winning a lot in Wing Foil: a short but very dense career culminating in winning the under-19 world championship. Although this discipline was invented together with windsurfing in the early 1980s’, it is gaining momentum especially in recent years and could become an Olympic specialty in 2032. We chatted with Ernesto De Amicis to show the human side, as well as the sporting side, of this champion who is only 16 years old and, although already at the top of this discipline, is at the beginning of his career.
The athlete and the Circle, two Italian excellences.
Ernesto De Amicis, back in 2023, was able to shine in Wing Foil. He has emerged as a star both on the national scene where he won the overall Italian FIV championship with enormous advantage and at the international level where he was vice European Under 19 champion and won the 2023 World Cup in Jericoacoara. With this year’s outstanding performance, De Amicis reconfirmed himself as champion: he won the European Under 19 championship in Silvaplana and then, he repeated his victory at the 2024 World Cup in Brazil, beating the strongest athletes in the world.
The triumph achieved at the World Cup, for the second time in a row, is an incredible achievement, now really “only” missing the Olympics for this very young champion.
This achievement was possible thanks to the support of a very important club in Naples, the Reale Yacht Club Canottieri Savoia. This reality has been able over the years, to become a reference for all young people in central and southern Italy and for sea lovers in general. Thanks to their commitment and for their sporting victories, the Club has been awarded a Stella d’oro and a Collare d’oro for sporting merit.
The Friends, Naples
Ernesto approached the sea as a child and started at the age of five with Windsurfing thanks to the passion of his Father who immediately introduced him to the sea. Wing Foil, on the other hand, is a fresh thing, he has been practicing it for just three years and started in 2021 thanks to a friend. “We were there training and I was doing something else entirely, the beginning was thanks to Francesco Coppolino who gave me the equipment and allowed me to practice in the summer.” Ernesto De Amicis is a total sportsman, he has practiced everything in his career, but it has always been the people, as well as his city Naples, who have been a staple and made the difference for him. The most important ones, also thanked in the interview, are: friends, Circle instructors, especially Chiara Nonno, and family (Papa is Ernesto’s number one supporter). For Ernesto being on the board is more than just a sport, it is passion: ”
It gives me a chance to experience places from a special perspective. It’s a general thing the Wing, besides sport it means freedom, seeing Naples from a point of view that no one sees. When I go out near Castel dell’Ovo I see a special and unique view, at more than 60 per hour in silence, it is something special. ”
The future, the Olympics
Competitions are difficult to integrate with a “normal” life, with friends and peers, at just 16 years old, it is not easy to organize:“This is the hardest thing, I’m back now from Brazil, next year I have more competitions coming up, luckily I participate in the Salesian athlete program: I don’t count absences and I’m ‘pardoned’ with questions.”
Despite these practical difficulties, Ernesto is launched and projected into the future. He has already won everything, and he is only missing the Olympics and, in fact, he confirmed to us that Wing Foil could become an Olympic specialty as early as 2032. He revealed to us that“in 2028 in Los Angeles there will be a first demonstration event to replace another sailing discipline for the 2032 Olympics.” We are sure that Ernesto will face these new challenges with the character and spirit that have distinguished him in these early years: “Don’t think about the things others say and do something new, something exciting, even in winter, even if it is not popular.”
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