Italian sailor Maddalena Spanu has capped a week of frustratingly light winds at the WingFoil Racing World Cup in Gizzeria with a silver medal, losing out only to France’s Vaina Picot in a keenly contested final that waited most of the day for enough breeze to run.
Spanu, who trains with Porto Cervo’s Young Azzurra programme, arrived at the Calabrian regatta carrying the momentum of a year’s worth of improvement in precisely the conditions she faced. The week began with promise. Four long-distance races across Wednesday netted her a win, followed by a string of runner-up finishes as a high-pressure system settled over Italy and throttled the wind for the next three days. Race organisers persisted, completing 16 races before the Medal Series began, but it was light-wind sailing all the way. Spanu held second place overall and qualified for the final.
The decider didn’t arrive until mid-afternoon when a north-westerly finally filled in around 3:30 PM, bringing 9 to 11 knots with occasional gusts to 13. The semi-finals and final could finally go ahead. Spanu lined up against Picot, Charlotte Baruzzi, and Iset Segura. She came out hard, pressing the French leader, but Picot had the edge and stretched her advantage across the finish line.
“Light winds defined the whole week, and I made the best I could of them,” Spanu said after racing. “A year ago I wouldn’t have been anywhere near as comfortable in these conditions. Racing Vaina and everyone else here keeps pushing me forward. This second place gives me real momentum heading into the Formula Wing World Championship in Turkey in about four weeks.”
That Istanbul event runs from 10-15 August. It represents the next step for Spanu as she continues building her resume across multiple foiling disciplines. Her progression tracks the path many ambitious foiling sailors now follow, developing skills across iQFOiL, wing foil, and longer-distance racing formats.
The result also sits within a broader development picture for the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda’s Young Azzurra programme. The club has just launched its 2026 Call for Young Sailors, seeking four athletes aged 18 to 25 to join the full programme, with a further ten spots available for participants in organised regattas. Applications close 30 September. For Italian sailors with serious ambitions in the foiling space, it represents a rare structured pathway into elite competition.
