The Final Series of the 53rd Princess Sofia Trophy of Mallorca gets underway

The third day of competition of the 53 Trofeo Princesa Sofia Mallorca by Iberostar was marked by the good overall progress of the top Spanish players.

The Embat blew again yesterday with medium intensity (10-13 knots), for the dispute of almost 60 races between the ten disciplines and the different groups. Up to 850 boats and boards and 1,100 sailors representing 76 countries once again offered a great spectacle in the bay of Palma.

After four races, the iQFOiL Men are still led by the Polish Pawel Tarnowski. The sailor from Club Nàutic Sa Ràpita, Nacho Baltasar, Spanish representative in Paris 2024, had a very good day, with a 5-3-5-8 record, and placed seventeenth.

In iQFOiL Women, after four more races, the Norwegian Maya Gysler took the lead from her compatriot Mina Mobekk, 2023 European champion. Pilar Lamadrid, from Seville, scored 9-26-11-7 and moved up four places in the rankings to seventeenth position.

In 470 Mixed, the Catalans Jordi Xammar and Nora Brugman remained very consistent in the three races sailed on this third day, with 4-2-9 scores, which allowed them to move up one place in the table and place second.

In Formula Kite Women, the Catalan Gisela Pulido remains in fourth place after three very good results (1-4-5) and discarding the other two scores (a 13 and a no entry due to an incident with the Italian). 

The Nacra 17s sailed three races that served to consolidate the Germans Paul Kohlhoff and Alica Stuhlemmer at the front of the fleet. The Canary Islanders Tara Pacheco and Andrés Barrio had a very good day and entered the provisional top ten after climbing eight places in the overall rankings.

Two races were completed by the 49er fleet, whose first three classified are very compact. Australia's Jack Ferguson and Max Paul continue to lead. Spain's Diego Botin and Florian Trittel, reigning world bronze medallists, began their climb up the rankings and are now in tenth place after a partial win and a ninth.

Italy's Riccardo Pianosi shone today in the Formula Kite Men's fleet, with three firsts and a second in the day's four races. He is tied on points with Singapore's Max Maeder, the overall winner of last year's Trofeo Princesa Sofia Mallorca by Iberostar. Catalan Berni Cortés continued his upward progression and placed nineteenth.

In ILCA 7, which opened the final series with two heats on this third day, the British Michael Beckett, last year's runner-up in the world championship, continues to lead. Joaquín Blanco from the Canary Islands is still the top Spaniard, twenty-ninth, twelve places ahead of Joel Rodríguez, also from the Canary Islands.

After four races, the 49er FX table is still led by the Norwegians Helene Naes and Marie Ronningen, while the Spaniards Paula Van Wieringen and Claudia Sobral dropped to thirtieth position.

Australia's Mara Stransky continued her upward progression in ILCA 6, which completed its first two races of the final series, to lead the 116-boat fleet. In the national battle for Olympic selection, Catalonia's Cristina Pujol climbed ten places in the gold group table to forty-fourth place, and is now seven places ahead of Andalusia's Ana Moncada.

Having crossed the halfway point of the competition programme, the fourth day of the 53 Trofeo Princesa Sofía Mallorca by Iberostar will take place today, with final heats for all disciplines except for the Nacra 17, Formula Kite Women and iQFOiL Women, in which the fleets are not divided into groups. According to the weather forecasts, the Embat will be back in action.