57th French Olympic Week in Hyères
Italy’s sailors shone even brighter with two more golds on another perfect day in the Bay to finish the 57th Semaine Olympique Française de Hyères – TPM, the second event of the Sailing Grand Slam series.
Surely only in Hyères can this amount of Champagne and Olympic sailing have been consumed in a week. There was fine racing on all six days and you could not have designed better conditions for race courses nor more beautiful surroundings between the Giens peninsula and the Îles d’Or. The forecast westerlies arrived early and the Nacra 17, 49er and FX finals began at 10.30 in 15 knots and a gently rippling sea state. The wind built towards 18 knots when the 470, ILCA 6 & ILCA 7 went out an hour later.
There was a new format for the week the two-race finals for the six fleets racing today, and the same drama, especially in the ILCA 6 and Nacra 17 which saw the overnight leaders unseated.
And if it seemed like plus c’est la même chose this month as Australia’s double Olympic champion, Matt Wearn, won his second event gold, Italy’s double Olympic champions, Ruggero Tita & Caterina Banti, finishing fourth after breaking their gennaker tack on Thursday was a cautionary tale. Gold is never guaranteed.
| 470 (mixed double-handed dinghy) | |
Spain’s Jordi Xammar Hernández & Marta Cardona Alcántara were dominant this week, guarded their lead in the finals today, and won gold. After finishing second here last year, they went one better. They kept Britain’s Martin Wrigley & Bettine Harris in their sights, managed the leaderboard and finished fifth behind behind them twice. Wrigley & Harris’s two third place finishes gave them silver, and France’s Matisse Pacaud & Lucie de Gennes guaranteed bronze with a fourth place in the first race, meaning the podium finished exactly as it had in Palma. It has been a very good week for all three boats and the Spanish in particular. Jordi Xammar Hernández & Marta Cardona Alcántara (ESP)
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| Sofia Giunchglia & Guila Schio (ITA) © FFVoile – SOF / SailingEnergy | |
| 49er (men’s and women’s double-handed skiff) Women’s FX
Italy’s Sofia Giunchiglia & Giulia Schio continued on from their fantastic Friday with an outstanding Saturday, winning both finals to take gold. They struggled in the big chop waves in the middle of the week, but when the Bay of Hyères was flat they completely dominated. The Sicilian duo’s first win had guaranteed it. Their closest challengers, Australia’s Laura Harding and Annie Wilmot, could only finish seventh leaving the gap at an insurmountable 12 points. The Australians finished fourth in the second final to hold on to silver and hold off the great surge up the leaderboard by France’s Manon Peyre & Amélie Riou, whose two second places brought them bronze.
Men’s 49er
China’s Zaiding Wen & Tian Liu’s consistent Friday paid dividends on Saturday as they wrapped up the gold after the first Final, they were third behind Ireland’s Robert Dickson & Sean Waddilove who finished second, but that gave the Chinese a 10-point cushion. Wen & Liu said the result was extra significant because this month was their qualification for the Asian Games, and they will now represent China after they finished ahead of their national rivals, who had taken bronze in Palma. France’s Erwan Fischer & Clément Péquin could only manage sixth leaving them third overall but level on points with the Irish going into the second final. But the Dickson & Waddilove won their battle, finishing fifth to take silver, with the French taking bronze in seventh.
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Nacra 17 (mixed double-handed catamaran)
In two hard fought finals, Italy’s Gianluigi Ugolini & Maria Giubilei, did what they needed to do and finished ahead of the overnight leaders, Argentina’s Olympic silver medallists Mateo Majdalani and Eugenia Bosco in both races to take gold. The Italians had started the day just two points behind but managed third in the first race to jump past the Argentinians in sixth. Fourth place in the second race was enough with the Argentinians back in sixth. It was a second Sailing Grand Slam silver for the Argentinians after silver in Palma.Behind them Tim Mourniac & Aloïse Retornaz held on to bronze by just a point from Italy’s double Olympic champions, Ruggero Tita & Caterina Banti. The Italians were playing catch-up after breaking their gennaker tack on Thursday and won the first race amid plenty of drama with the British boat capsizing. But the French managed second and although they were 10th and last, the Italians could only finish seventh. One more place and they would have taken bronze. | |
| ILCA 6 and 7 – (women’s & men’s solo dinghy) | |
ILCA 6
USA’s Charlotte Rose beat overnight leader, Ireland’s Eve McMahon, the champion in Palma to win gold. It was Rose’s second SOF title after winning in 2024 and she managed the Finals expertly. In their race-within-a-race Rose finished second to McMahon’s third in the first. McMahon led by one point going into the second final but Rose managed to finish sixth and put a boat between them as McMahon came in eighth. Hungary’s Mária Érdi overtook the Netherlands’ Maxime van de Werken-Jonker’s overnight lead to win bronze with a second place finish in the second final. ILCA 7
Australia’s double Olympic champion, Matt Wearn, wrapped up gold as the battle for silver between the two Brits raged behind him. After taking over a year out following winning the Paris 2024 Olympics, Wearn has now won both his comeback events and both Sailing Grand Slams, Palma and then Hyères, in a month. Britain’s Michael Beckett prevailed over his compatriot, Elliot Hanson, reversing their podium finish in Palma. Beckett had a lead overnight and guarded that in their race-within-a-race as they finished 10th (last) and 9th in the first Final with Wearn looking on from mid-fleet. Hanson almost did enough in the second Final, finishing second as Beckett trailed in 8th, but Beckett took silver by two points. | |