Great Britain topped the medal table as sailing's Trofeo Princesa Sofía Mallorca concluded on Saturday. The showcase curtain-raiser to the new Los Angeles 2028 Olympic cycle started in perfect sunshine and sea breezes last Monday and today came to a fabulous conclusion, enjoying equally sparkling thermal breezes.
By their usually high standards Great Britain’s sailing team may have had a disappointing Paris 2024 Olympics, landing one gold and one bronze medal, but the Bay of Palma saw their big squad bounce back with an impressive five gold medals from the 10 Olympic events. Led by an emotional victory in the Women’s iQFOiL foiling windsurfer class for Emma Wilson, double Olympic bronze medallist who has often dominated but finished disappointed, and ILCA 7 ace Micky Beckett who had won his class for a record fourth time in a row.
Britain’s Martin Wrigley and Bettine Harris won the 470 Mixed having tied up the title before today’s Medal Race. Tokyo’s silver medallists Jon Gimson and Anna Burnet secured the Nacra 17 title for the first time by winning the Medal Race and in the FX Women’s Skiff fleet Freya Black and Saskia Tidey clinched their first overall Sofía win. The French reigning world champions Erwan Fischer and Clément Péquin bounced back from their disappointing home Olympics to win the 49er event comfortably.
Whilst Wilson laid to rest the spectres of a numerous last day disappointments, she held on to win the iQFOiL Women whilst Australia’s Paris 2024 silver medallist Grae Morris triumphed in the Men’s fleet. His Australian Sailing Team compatriot Zoe Thomson went one better than last year. Runner up in 2023 Thomson took second in the medal race to seal the Palma title.
Singapore’s Max Maeder was on dominant form in the Men’s Formula Kite whilst China’s Wan Li won the Women’s Kite.
