Ten titles decided as Trofeo Princesa Sofía delivers a finals day full of drama

The first Sailing Grand Slam of the season finished in style on the Bay of Palma, with ten Olympic class titles decided in near-perfect conditions. The new two-race finals format – on test for the first time ahead of LA 2028 – produced exactly what organisers hoped for: tight margins, late drama, and a few results that swung on the final leg.

Here's who came out on top at the 55th Trofeo Princesa Sofía...

READ MORE: This week’s coverage from Palma

Spain's Jordi Xammar and Marta Cardona delivered for the home crowd, sealing the title with a first and a second in the finals. "Maintaining the consistency to be on the podium at every regatta is something very difficult to achieve, even if we make it look easy," said Xammar. "It's something we are good at."

For Cardona, who sails out of the local Club Nàutic S'Arenal, the win carried extra weight. "You never expect to win a Trofeo Princesa Sofía Mallorca so young, at just 20 years old," she said. "This is where I first started sailing and where my Olympic career with Jordi began."

European champions Martin Wrigley and Bettine Harris took silver after an aggressive opening gambit backfired. "We had a five-point gap on Jordi, so we tried to play around with him a little bit," Wrigley admitted, "and ended up with a red flag on us. Not our finest moments." They recovered to win the second race but the damage was done.

Bronze went to France's Matisse Pacaud and Lucie de Gennes after a tight fight with fellow French team Pennaneac’h/Williot. "We were leading just after qualifying," said Pacaud. "It was our first time in the senior fleet, so it's amazing."

Germany's Richard Schultheis and Fabian Rieger converted their form into gold with a fourth and a win in the finals. After finishing second at multiple events in 2025, Schultheis and Rieger have finally broken through for their first win as a partnership.

The USA's Nevin Snow and Ian MacDiarmid, overnight leaders who had been building momentum through 2025 including a winter training block in New Zealand, misread the first beat of the opening finals race and couldn't recover but held on for silver. China's Xin Wang and Tianyu Qi took bronze – a timely podium with Asian Games qualification still to be decided. Australia's Harry Price and Max Paul finished just off the podium in fourth after leading the fleet for much of the week.

Local favourites Paula Barceló and Maria Cantero will be hurting. The reigning world champions, racing on home waters, won the first finals race and looked to have the title in hand. Then came disaster: a pumping penalty in the closing metres of the second race forced a 360 turn and dropped them to tenth. Bronze, when gold had been within reach.

Canada's Georgia and Antonia Lewin-LaFrance were suddenly, unexpectedly, in the box seat. The sisters crossed fifth in that final race and had no idea they'd won until afterwards. "We were quite consistent," they said. "We did not have very many results in the top three but not many outside the top ten. And it was a bloody challenging week." The gold medal was theirs by a single point.

Germany's Sophie Steinlein and Catherine Bartelheimer took silver on countback from the Spanish pair after a week of steady results. It came down to inches: had Norway pipped Canada on the line in the final race, the Germans would have won the regatta outright.

Matt Wearn's return to dinghy racing after his double Olympic gold looks very much like the old Wearn. It was his first major regatta since Paris 2024 – he hasn't raced in a fleet of this size and quality for almost two years – and he's now pursuing a third straight Olympic title, something only one Australian, Mat Belcher, has ever achieved in a single discipline.

Wearn controlled the finals and won the last race to finish ten points clear of Britain's Elliot Hanson. "There was going to be plenty of rust to shake off, and there still is," he said, "but we're at the front, which is a nice feeling."

Micky Beckett, who was chasing a fifth consecutive Sofía title, had a tough finale with multiple penalties and dropped to third. "I was the only person in the last race who could still topple Matt, so I got a bit of extra attention from him which is fair enough," he said. "I'm not done yet. Now I've got to go and win in Hyères [later this month]."

Friends and training partners Eve McMahon and Daisy Collingridge turned the final day into a match race. McMahon, the two-time Under-21 world champion from Howth, came out on top by a single point after winning the final race. "We knew once we were out on the water that all is fair in love and war," she said. "I had to pull out a magic trick here and that's what I did."

Sweden's Emil Järudd and Hanna Jonsson held the yellow bib from day one and never let go. They won half the races they sailed and finished on just 20 points – a dominant display made all the more remarkable by what they endured off the water.

"It has been a good week for us sailing-wise but both our grandads passed away in the week, so it has been emotional off the water," said Jonsson. "We dedicate this victory to Henning and Roy." She added with a smile: "My grandad thought a boat was going too fast if it was moving more than 2 knots, so he was never going to be a Nacra 17 sailor for sure."

Argentina's Olympic silver medallists Mateo Majdalani and Eugenia Bosco finished second. Britain's world champions John Gimson and Anna Burnet salvaged bronze with a second and a win on the final day after a difficult week. Sweden's Ida Svensson and Marcus Dackhammar, who had been in the medal hunt throughout, slipped to fourth after two tenth-place finishes.

Järudd and Jonsson were also named overall winners of the 55th Trofeo Princesa Sofía – their first major title together since bronze at the 2023 world championships.

Max Maeder extended his remarkable Palma record to four consecutive titles in the men's division, matching Beckett's streak before it was broken. The 19-year-old Singaporean and Olympic bronze medallist got a rapid start and controlled the final from there.

In the Women's event, France's Lauriane Nolot snatched victory from the Netherlands' Jessie Kampman, who had to settle for silver despite dominating all week with a run of twelve race wins. Olympic silver medallist Nolot was candid about the format's impact: "Why would I push all week long? Only the last day matters."

France's Nico Goyard won the Men's title, calling it validation for his behind-the-scenes work. The USA's Noah Lyons took silver: "To place second at this regatta is truly special," he said. "I'm excited to carry this momentum forward into the 2026 season."

Israel's Tamar Steinberg took the Women's gold, recovering from an over-early start when the entire fleet jumped the gun. "I came with confidence because I know those conditions are quite good for me," she said.