A single point separated Federico Pilloni from the top of the iQFOiL podium at the Italian Olympic Classes Championship in Naples, a margin so slim it summed up just how tight the racing was for the Young Azzurra squad across the regatta.
Pilloni had looked the class act for most of the week, winning five of the eleven races sailed and holding a commanding lead heading into the final day. Then Leonardo Tomasini found another gear when it mattered most, snatching the overall win by a single point in conditions that turned increasingly unpredictable. For Pilloni, training partner and rival Tomasini, the margin stung but the result still landed as a strong one.
“It was a great regatta, made even more special by competing alongside so many athletes I train with regularly,” Pilloni said. “It was also great to race in a new venue like Naples. The conditions proved very challenging, especially on the final day, with extremely unpredictable winds. There were some great battles on the water, and it was an excellent way to round off the racing season while continuing preparations for next year’s World Championship.”
Maddalena Spanu produced the other standout performance for the Porto Cervo-based programme, finishing runner-up in Kite Foil behind Tiana Laporte. Racing in a fleet where men and women competed together, Spanu lost the opening day to poor weather before 15 races were squeezed into the remainder of the regatta. Two consecutive wins on day three, sailed in light air, proved the highlight of her week.
“I’m quite satisfied with the result and with how this edition of the Italian Olympic Classes Championship went,” Spanu said. “This year, I’ve been training consistently in Kite Foil, and this regatta was an important opportunity to test myself against other sailors and continue to improve. I’m particularly happy with the two wins I secured on the third day in light winds.”
Cesare Barabino rounded out the Young Azzurra contingent in the ILCA 7, and his week told a different story. Racing against 70 rivals, he opened with two second-place finishes that put him near the top of the leaderboard from the outset. He carried that form deep into the regatta, starting the final day in third overall, but couldn’t hold the pace and slipped to fourth by the finish.
“I got off to a good start, with two second-place finishes on the first day that immediately put me near the top of the standings,” Barabino said. “In the following days, I wasn’t able to maintain the same pace, although I remained in the fight for a podium finish until the final day. I’d like to congratulate the sailors on the podium on their performances.”
For a youth programme built around developing talent across Olympic foiling disciplines, the week in Naples offered a fair snapshot of where its sailors sit. Two silver medals and a top-four finish against strong national fleets suggest the pathway from Porto Cervo continues to produce athletes capable of mixing it with the best in the country, even if the margins at the very top remain brutally fine. With the next iQFOiL World Championship already on the horizon and the Kite Foil class growing more competitive by the season, all three sailors head into the off-season with plenty to build on, and in Pilloni’s case, one point’s worth of unfinished business.
