World Cup Series: Why 53rd Trofeo Princesa Sofia Mallorca matters more than ever

With racing starting on Monday 1 April, sailors are in their final preparations for the first big event of the 2024 Olympic season. This is one of the few remaining times when all 10 Olympic events will be racing together in the same bit of water before the biggest event of the four-year cycle, the Olympic Regatta in Marseille this July.

Later in April, the Last Chance Regatta at Semaine Olympique Francaise represents the final chance to claim the remaining country qualification places for the Paris 2024 Olympics. Here in Palma, an enormous entry of boats, boards and sailors are gathered in what for many is also a crucial step towards Marseille as, for some nations, the 53rd Trofeo Princesa Sofia Mallorca by Iberostar makes up part of their selection trials to decide which sailors will earn their ticket to race at the Olympics.

Just a month ago the 470 World Championship took place out of the Club Nàutic S’Arenal, one of three clubs who jointly host and run the racing at the Trofeo Princesa Sofía. The 470 Worlds formed part of the German trials for the Olympics and on that occasion it was Simon Diesch and Anna Markfort (GER) who finished in fourth and some way ahead of their teammates and rivals.

Now the coming six days of competition at Trofeo Princesa Sofía offer the other German teams a chance to close the gap on Diesch and Markfort who a year ago looked very reliant on big breeze for good results but now appear to be the all-round package. Jordi Xammar and Nora Brugman (ESP) have proven themselves as the best across the wind range. The Spanish duo nearly always finish on the podium and they won their first 470 World Championship together last month, a victory all the sweeter for triumphing on home waters.

Whereas Xammar and Brugman have already earned their spot for the Games, there are many others in the same boat as the Germans, such as the Japanese, another hotly contested Olympic trial. Keiju Okada and Miho Yoshioka (JPN) took the bronze at the recent Worlds, a good follow-up to their dominant victory at the 2023 Worlds in The Hague last summer. Okada and Yoshioka are also the defending champions from last year’s Trofeo Princesa Sofía so they are clearly very comfortable with the range of conditions that the Bay of Palma can deliver. This puts them as the favourite ahead of some other world class teams, notably Tetsuya Isozaki and Yurie Seki (JPN) who led in the early stages of the 2024 Worlds and are very hard to beat in the lighter breezes.

After a French record breaking win at the 49er World Championship in Lanzarote a few weeks ago, Erwan Fischer and Clement Pequin (FRA) have earned their Olympic selection ahead of their French teammates and rivals, not least the reigning European Champions Lucas Rual and Emile Amoros (FRA). Fischer and Pequin won in Palma two years ago and will be looking to cement the top spot again in the Olympic year.

Unfortunately last year’s winners in the 49er, Logan Dunning Beck and Oscar Gunn  (NZL) will be absent from competition after Beck sustained a foot injury while training for the 49er Worlds in Lanzarote. Such is the cruel nature of sport, as the untimely injury means Beck and Gunn are now unable to continue with their dream of going to the Games.

Last year Great Britain took gold in both the men’s and women’s iQFOiL windsurfing, thanks to Sam Sills and Emma Wilson respectively. Wilson is acknowledged as the most consistent performer in the women’s fleet, but with the winner-takes-all final it’s very hard to pin anyone as a firm favourite in this hard-fought division.

The Formula Kites also have a final-day format where any of the top 10 can win. Having just heard within the last few days that she has earned selection for France, reigning World and European Champion Lauriane Nolot can enjoy her time in Palma with no additional pressures.

Straight off the back of his dominant victory at the Formula Kite Europeans in Mar Menor in mainland Spain, Maximilian Maeder (SGP) is the clear favourite for victory in the men’s kite division. The 17-year-old from Singapore is the reigning world champion and he is the defending champion at 53rd Trofeo Princesa Sofia Mallorca.

In fact Maeder is the overall champion from last year, as this regatta is unique in having a mathematical formula which calculates the most outstanding winner from the week. Winners of this overall trophy from two years ago are Rugi Tita and Caterina Banti (ITA), the reigning Olympic Champions in the Nacra 17 foiling catamaran.

Tita has duties elsewhere as one of Luna Rossa’s helmsmen in the Italian team’s build-up to the America’s Cup this autumn in Barcelona, and it has proven difficult for this strong team to remain as consistently dominant as they have been in past seasons. A victory here would be important in establishing their claim to represent Italy at the Games ahead of their training partners, the young pretenders Gianluigi Ugolini and Maria Giubilei (ITA) who are also operating at the very top of the catamaran fleet.

Looking to make it a hat-trick of successive victories in the ILCA 7 singlehander is Micky Beckett (GBR) who has already been selected for his first Olympics. Having narrowly been beaten to gold by Matt Wearn (AUS) at last year’s Olympic Test Event and the World Championships, another victory for Beckett in Palma would be a vital psychological boost for the British sailor in the final run-in to Paris 2024.

There is a big sense of anticipation around the different boat parks, from S’Arenal in the south to Ca’n Pastilla 6km further north, closer to the city centre of Palma. With more than 1100 sailors gathered from 76 nations around the world, along with 850 boats and boards, the logistics of organising such a large and complex event are immense. So many battles and so much drama to watch out for this coming week.

Final preparations are underway for Trofeo Princesa Sofia, the first big event of the 2024 Olympic season.

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— World Sailing 🌎⛵️ (@worldsailing) March 30, 2024