Sofia racers head into final chance to make Saturday's medal race

Price is right….

In the 49er Skiff class the lead has alternated between top duos from the USA and Australia who spent time training together within a big group working out of Torbay, north of Auckland. After today’s three Elimination Series races it is Sydney’s Harry Price and Max Paul who are into their second season together who lead by three points. The pair joined up as friends and champions from the same 18ft Skiff, Price confirming they have come a long way since last year’s Sofía where they finished 31st.

They won the day’s first heat and finished second in the next to overhaul their American counterparts Nevin Snow and Ian MacDiarmid who held the overnight lead.

Sixth last year at only their first regatta together Snow and MacDiarmid are intent on matching or improving on the 2024 Paris bronze medal of friends Ian Barrows and Hans Henken who in Marseilles delivered the USA’s first sailing medal since 2016.

Spain lead in the 49erFX and the 470 Mixed

In the Women’s Skiff, local Arenal helm Paula Barceló and Canarian Maria Cantero have earned a slender, one point lead after a consistent 7-5-7 day achieved in the shifty conditions, narrowly ahead of Canada’s Georgia and Antonia  Lewin-Lafrance.

Their World Champion compatriots in the 470 Mixed dinghy Jordi Xammar and Marta Cardona retain a ten points cushion with two more Elimination Series races scheduled Sunday. Last year’s winners, recently crowned European Champions, Martin Wrigley and Bettine Harris (GBR), are chasing hard.

Wrigley recalled, “We won the first race and in the second race we dropped badly. First race the breeze had just filled in from the new direction, we got a good start and controlled it from there. The second race just got away from us, we don’t really know what happened.”

“There is still a long way to go in this regatta. With two races to go in these kind of conditions, possibly light offshore tomorrow. Anything can happen.”

In the ILCA 7 fleet the double Olympic champion Matt Wearn (AUS) bookended a pair of wins with a 26th which he discards meaning he leads into Friday by 11 points ahead of Germany’s rising star, Under 21 World Champion Ole Schweckendiek. And in the ILCA 6 Belgium’s Emma Plasschaert continues to top the standings.  And in the Nacra 17s it is still the consistent Swedish duo Emil Järudd and Hanna Jonsson, who have led since the first day.

Lyons leading

Noah Lyons (USA) has displaced previous leader Duncan Monaghan (GBR) at the top of the iQFOiL Men’s windsurfer standings after a mostly good afternoon on the water. Unlike most competitors, Lyons embraces the tricky, gusty, shifty stuff. “I feel that I’m doing well in the tricky, gusty, shifty conditions,” said the man from Florida. “I think that’s my strength for sure.” Lyons excelled in the upwind sprints, scoring two wins and a fifth from the three heats. “Yes, that went really well, but the course race… not so much,” laughed Lyons about his 21st in the longer race. “Luckily I’ve been consistent enough that I was able to drop that course race and still have a decent day.”

Poland’s Anastasiya Valkevich continues to sit at the top of the leaderboard in the Women’s iQFOiL. “It was quite a tricky day on our race course, very shifty and variable winds,” she said. “We did four races, the upwind sprint format, really quick races. I had some good scores in all of them, so I think I’m doing enough to stay at the top. It’s nice to be back racing, and seeing everyone else in the fleet. It’s good fun on the water and hanging out on shore too.”

Kite world champs in control, perfect Kampman counts nine wins

In Formula Kite, the dominant world champion Jessie Kampman won three of her four races and counts a perfect scoreline of nine first places. The Dutch rider came a cropper in the other one. “The wind holes were crazy,” she said. “I could see people’s kites beginning to flutter to the water in a big lull, and on the other side a big gust hitting the course. I got this big surge from the gust and I crashed, so not easy out there at all.”

Lauriane Nolot is lying in second place, and the France’s Olympic silver medallist is another athlete struggling to make sense of an unusually unpredictable Bay of Palma this week.

In the Men‘s category, Riccardo Pianosi had a pretty bad day by his high standards, with scores of 20 and 15 bookended by a 3 to start and a 2 to finish.

Former World Champion from Singapore Max Maeder sits in second place behind Pianosi, with Valentin Bontus (AUT) in third. The Olympic Champion from Austria last competed at last year’s edition of the Sofía and a week later badly injured his knee in a skiing accident. This week is his first competition for a year, so he’s happy to find himself in third place after winning two of today’s four races. “I’m here to enjoy myself, not put too much pressure on myself for results, but it’s actually going pretty well,” he said.

The 55th Trofeo Princesa Sofia Mallorca by FERGUS Hotels is organised by Bahía Activa — the foundation formed by the Real Club Náutico de Palma, the Club Nàutic S’Arenal, the Club Marítimo San Antonio de la Playa and the Balearic Sailing Federation — and is supported by World Sailing. The event is co-financed by the Balearic Islands Government’s Sustainable Tourism Tax fund and sponsored by the Mallorca Responsible Tourism Foundation.

The 55th Trofeo Princesa Sofía Mallorca by FERGUS Hotels is part of the Sailing Grand Slam 2026 alongside the Semaine Olympique Française, Dutch Water Week, Kieler Woche and Long Beach & San Pedro Olympic Classes Regatta.

Text and images courtesy of Trofeo Princesa Sofia. Read the full release here.