Trofeo Sofía 2026: Updates from Palma

Andy Rice is at the Bay of Palma bringing daily updates from the 55th Trofeo Princesa Sofía, one of Olympic sailing's biggest annual gatherings. We'll be updating this page throughout the regatta (30 March – 4 April), so check back for the latest.

Got a question for Andy? Drop it in the comments on our Instagram and we'll see what we can find out. Full results are available at TrofeoPrincesaSofía.org.

After a week of offshore lottery, Good Friday brought the best conditions yet while sharpening the battles heading into Saturday's finals.

470 Mixed

Home favourites Jordi Xammar and Marta Cardona carry a five-point cushion into Saturday's medal races over last year's winners and reigning European champions Martin Wrigley and Bettine Harris of Britain. The Brits won the day's opening race and took second in the next, but Wrigley admitted the week has been a rollercoaster: "We've had possibly some of the worst moments we've had in the last three years in this regatta, and also some of the better moments. It's been wild – conditions we've probably not really seen that much in Palma over recent years."

Behind them, two French teams are separated by a single point. Manon Pennaneac'h and Pierre Williot climbed to third with strong boatspeed in the pumping conditions – "We gave all we had physically," Pennaneac'h said – while Matisse Pacaud and Lucie de Gennes won the final race to sit fourth.

Xammar likes the new two-race format: "It seems fairer than a single race with double points. We're generally good at improving throughout a championship."

49er

Americans Nevin Snow and Ian MacDiarmid lead by a single point over Germany's Richard Shultheis and Fabian Rieger after a gutsy recovery from an early start. The US pair had to return across the line, clawed back to 12th, then followed that up with a bullet and a fifth.

French 2024 world champions and last year's Sofía winners Erwan Fischer and Clément Pequin missed the top-ten cut entirely, finishing 13th, while Dutch triple world champion Bart Lambriex squeezed in ninth.

49er FX

Just two points separate the top three, with local stars Paula Barceló and María Cantero just ahead. "The standings are very tight," Barceló said, "so any points reduction under the new format won't affect us. Whoever adapts best will come out on top." Canada's Lewin-Lafrance sisters are a point behind and Germany's Steinlein/Bartelheimer sit another point back.

Nacra 17

Sweden's Emil Järudd and Hanna Jonsson lead the Nacra 17 by eight points despite both fighting off a flu, with compatriots and training partners Ida Svensson and Marcus Dackhammer giving chase. Olympic silver medallists Mateo Majdalani and Eugenia Bosco had their day wrecked by a pre-start collision that broke their boom – the Argentinians drop to fifth with a DNC to count. Järudd and Jonsson, 2023 world bronze medallists, are chasing their first major regatta win together.

ILCA 7

Double Olympic champion Matt Wearn looks set to end Micky Beckett's four-year stranglehold on Palma. The Australian has worn the yellow bib since racing began and holds a 13-point lead – reduced to nine under the new format. "I had reasonably low expectations," Wearn said. "I haven't touched base with the fleet for nearly two years. It's nice to still be at the pointy end."

ILCA 6

Training partners turned rivals: Britain's Daisy Collingridge and Ireland's Evie McMahon locked horns in the day's final race, match racing each other into discards. Collingridge takes a narrow lead into Saturday. "I hope she'll forgive me!" she laughed. McMahon was less amused: “I'm a little bit surprised [that Daisy match raced me], just because she allowed everyone else from behind to condense their points up, so I don't really know what her thinking was there. I got out of the match race pretty well, so I think she'll have to try harder next time.”

Formula Kite

Jessie Kampman has won 12 races this week. Going into Saturday's winner-takes-all final? She's level with Lauriane Nolot. The Dutch world champion was relaxed: "I didn't even know that. You just race and see what happens."

In the Men's fleet, Max Maeder and Riccardo Pianosi have swapped places atop the standings, but both go through to the four-rider medal series. “Funny there's some ranking changes within the top five, but consequentially nothing big has happened,” Maeder noted. “Everyone is still where they're supposed to be; there's no major advantage given or taken. And it's all on tomorrow.”

iQFOiL

The foilers complete their series on Saturday with the medal format largely unchanged from previous years. American Noah Lyons carries a three-point lead into the final day, with France's Nicolas Goyard and Italy's Nicolò Renna in pursuit. Lyons displaced Duncan Monaghan at the top during Thursday's chaos and has held on since.

In the Women’s fleet, Israel's Tamar Steinberg now holds the yellow bib on 50 points, ahead of Italy's Marta Maggetti on 56 and Norway's Maya Gysler on 60. Defending Sofía champion Emma Wilson sits just off the podium in fourth – earlier in the week Poland's Anastasiya Valkevich had led, but Steinberg has turned that pressure into pole position at exactly the right moment.

The Bay of Palma continued to confound competitors, with offshore winds producing near-calm conditions punctuated by 20-knot gusts – sometimes on the same course at the same time. One more day of Elimination Series racing remains before Saturday's medal finals.

470 Mixed

World champions Jordi Xammar and Marta Cardona retain a comfortable 10-point cushion at the top after a steady 3-4 scoreline.

Martin Wrigley and Bettine Harris, last year's winners and reigning European champions, are giving chase and climbed to second overall despite a mixed day. "We did well in the first race – we won it," Harris said, "but in the second race we got almost everything wrong and really struggled. I'm a little surprised that we still managed to move up the leaderboard." Wrigley was pragmatic: "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.”

France's Matisse Pacaud and Lucie de Gennes sit third, while European silver medallists Giacomo Ferrari and Alessandra Dubbini dropped to fifth after a collision with a Slovenian boat forced evening repairs and two missed races – though they received redress from the jury.

49er

The lead swapped hands between training partners. Sydney's Harry Price and Max Paul moved three points clear of overnight leaders Nevin Snow and Ian MacDiarmid – both crews having spent the off-season training together in a 15–20 boat group at Torbay, north of Auckland.

Price and Paul, competing in only their second season together, have come a long way since finishing 31st at last year's Sofía. Their partnership grew out of the 18ft Skiff scene in Sydney, where they won titles together before teaming up for their Olympic campaign.

Snow and MacDiarmid finished sixth here last year at only their first regatta together. The San Diego native says his motivation comes from watching friends Ian Barrows and Hans Henken take bronze at Paris 2024 – the USA's first Olympic sailing medal since 2016. "To see them finish with a medal means we keep going," Snow said. "And LA is all but a home Games for me."

49er FX

Local favourite Paula Barceló and crew Maria Cantero lead by a single point after grinding out a 7-5-7 day in the shifty conditions. The Arenal-based helm credited a low-risk approach: "We managed to stay consistent all day by not taking too many risks – not going off looking for big gains and so avoiding losses."

Nacra 17

Nobody could string together a clean set of results in the volatile conditions. Sweden's Emil Järudd and Hanna Jonsson remain in control on seven points, though even they couldn't avoid the lottery – two solid finishes offset by one they'd rather forget. Argentina's Mateo Majdalani and Eugenia Bosco sit second after retiring from the first race but posting two top-fives thereafter.

France's Tim Mourniac and Aloïse Retornaz are third, finding their rhythm as the day progressed and winning the final race. Britain's John Gimson and Anna Burnet, Turkey's Sinem Kurtbay and Alican Kaynar, and Sweden's second pair Ida Svensson and Marcus Dackhammar all posted a mix of high and low scores – underlining how open this fleet remains heading into Friday.

ILCA 7

Double Olympic champ Matt Wearn sandwiched a discardable 26th between two race wins to lead by 11 points. Germany's Ole Schweckendiek, the Under-21 world champion, sits second. Four-time Palma winner Micky Beckett, who had been climbing steadily after a slow start, slipped down to fourth, behind fellow Brit Elliot Hanson.

ILCA 6

Belgium's Emma Plasschaert now tops the fleet, having overtaken Ireland's Eve McMahon who held the yellow bib on Day 3.

Formula Kite

Jessie Kampman looks untouchable. The Dutch world champion has won nine from nine, though even she couldn't escape the chaos entirely: "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." Olympic silver medallist Lauriane Nolot sits second.

In the Men's fleet, world champion Riccardo Pianosi leads despite a 20th and 15th mid-day, with former world champion Max Maeder in second. Olympic champion Valentin Bontus, competing for the first time since a skiing accident sidelined him for a year, sits third after winning two races. "I'm here to enjoy myself, not put too much pressure on myself for results," Bontus said, "but it's actually going pretty well.”

iQFOiL

Noah Lyons displaced Britain's Duncan Monaghan at the top of the men's standings, thriving in the difficult conditions: "I feel that I'm doing well in the tricky, gusty, shifty stuff – I think that's my strength." He scored two wins and a fifth in the upwind sprints, though laughed off a 21st in the course race: "Luckily I've been consistent enough that I was able to drop that and still have a decent day.”

Poland's Anastasiya Valkevich continues to lead the women's fleet. “I had some good scores in all of them, so I think I'm doing enough to stay at the top,” she said. “It's nice to be back racing, and seeing everyone else in the fleet.”

April Fool's Day lived up to its name on the Bay of Palma. Unstable winds, wild shifts, and breeze that veered from 25 knots to almost nothing. It all added up to a frustrating day, with several fleets barely getting on the water.

470 Mixed

Jordi Xammar and Marta Cardona (ESP) took the lead in the first day of elimination series racing after winning the opening race in 20–22-knot breeze. "We love the strong winds," Xammar said. The pair had slipped to fourth on Day 2 after two eighth-place finishes, but a "really important debrief" led to adjustments that clearly worked. "We love the strong winds," Xammar said. "The 470 is a great boat for those top-end conditions.”

Overnight leaders Matisse Pacaud and Lucie de Gennes (FRA) slip to second; Elena Berta and Giulio Calabro (ITA) sit third after what Berta called an "extremely tricky" day. Newly-crowned European champions Martin Wrigley and Bettine Harris (GBR) hauled themselves to fourth after a rocky start to the event, while Israel's Roy Levy and Ariel Gal – the reigning Junior World champions – sit fifth, continuing to impress at senior level.

49er

The 101-boat fleet managed just one race per group – Yellow, Blue and Red – after strong morning winds delayed racing and lighter, unstable conditions in the afternoon meant the schedule fell apart. But that single race was enough to reshuffle the pack heading into Gold fleet racing.

Nevin Snow and Ian McDiarmid (USA) lead despite Snow battling illness for days; Uruguay's Hernan Umpierre and Fernando Diz are second; overnight leaders Harry Price and Max Paul (AUS) drop to third.

The leaderboard remains tight, with everything still to play for when the top 25 crews begin elimination racing on Thursday – scores reset, with each team's qualifying position becoming their opening points tally.

49er FX

Two races completed on a stop-start day, and with qualifying now done, the top 25 head into Gold fleet racing on Thursday. World champions Paula Barceló and Maria Cantero (ESP) lead, tied on points with Germany's Maru Scheel and Freya Feilcke. Olympic silver medallist Vilma Bobeck (SWE), now sailing with Ebba Berntsson, is third.

Day 2 leaders Freya Black and Saskia Tidey (GBR), who had spoken of wanting to "stay in the game through the middle of the week", have slipped back to fourth. The drama of the day: Olympic champion Odile Lambriex van Aanholt's shroud snapped while adjusting rig settings, forcing crew Marissa Ijben to physically hold the mast until their support team arrived "like our F1 pit crew" to fix it between races.

Nacra 17

Conditions kept the catamaran fleet ashore all day, but with qualifying now complete regardless, the standings are locked in for the next phase. The top 25 now advance to Gold fleet racing, where scores reset and each team's qualifying rank becomes their starting points. Sweden's Emile Järudd and Hanna Jonsson hold the lead.

ILCA 7

Double Olympic champion Matt Wearn (AUS) leads by 10 points from four-time Palm. winner Micky Beckett (GBR), who has climbed steadily from tenth after Day 1. The Brit described the day as feeling "like a bad joke". Germany's Ole Schweckendiek, just 21, is making waves in third. Beckett admitted he finished "seriously dehydrated" after 4–5-hour sessions for six races – and warned against making predictions. "Any time I have voiced an assumption about what will happen I have looked like an idiot."

ILCA 6

Eve McMahon (IRL) clings to the yellow bib after a sixth-place finish. Double world champion Emma Plasschaert (BEL) won the only completed race to move into second; Mara Stransky (AUS) sits third after finally finding form at a regatta that she says "has never treated me that kindly". Day 2 podium finishers Bermuda's Adriana Penruddocke and Britain's Matilda Nicholls have dropped dramatically in the standings to 17th and 21st, respectively.

Formula Kite

World champion Jessie Kampman (NED) is dominating the women's competition with six wins from eight starts. Lauriane Nolot (FRA) sits in second and Chenxue Liu (CHN) in third.

The Men's battle is far tighter – world champion Riccardo Pianosi (ITA), recently turned 21, leads 19-year-old Olympic bronze medallist Max Maeder (SGP) by the slimmest margin.

iQFOiL

Poland's Anastasiya Valkevich leads the Women by two points from Israel's Tamar Steinberg.

No racing for the Men – Duncan Monaghan (GBR) stays top after describing conditions as "super wacky".

470 Mixed

France's Matisse Pacaud and Lucie de Gennes moved into the overall lead after winning both their yellow fleet races. "It was really shifty, so we are happy with our day," Pacaud said. "The key was to stay calm because it wasn't easy, and you couldn't follow every shift. We just tried to keep it simple and be fast."

Italy's Elena Berta and Giulio Calabrò sit second, with Israel's Roy Levy and Ariel Gal climbing to third. Day 1 leaders Jordi Xammar and Marta Cardona of Spain slipped to fourth after two eighth-place finishes, while Portugal's Diogo Costa and Carolina João dropped from second to fifth.

Newly crowned European champions Martin Wrigley and Bettine Harris of Great Britain dominated their blue fleet with two race wins, recovering from a nightmare opening day that left them 31st after discarding a DNC. They now sit ninth overall. The fleet splits into Gold and Silver groups on Wednesday.

49er

Australia's Harry Price and Max Paul have emerged at the top of the 49er Men's Skiff after sharing the Day 1 lead with Denmark's Frederik Rask and Jakob Precht, and France's Lucas Rual and Emile Amoros. The conditions – shifty, offshore, unpredictable – have rewarded those reading the racecourse early.

49er FX

Last year's Sofia champions Freya Black and Saskia Tidey of Great Britain have moved up from fourth to take the lead, tied on 20 points with Spain's Paula Barcelo and Maria Cantero. Tidey described it as "an up and down day" after a first, a sixth and a 16th-place discard. "It would be easy to come away with some big scores so I feel we managed our risk quite well."

On the new format, Tidey added: "We watched how it played out at the 470 Europeans. You really want to keep it clean in the qualifying series and go through with a nice position. Our aim is to stay in the game through the middle of the week, chip away to the front."

Nacra 17

Sweden's Emile Järudd and Hanna Jonsson are controlling the Nacra 17 fleet with four wins from six starts and a 12-point cushion. Argentina's Mateo Majdalani and Eugenia Bosco, the Paris 2024 silver medallists, sit second, with Swedish compatriots Ida Svensson and Marcus Dackhammer third. All three teams have been winter training partners. "We are still sailing smart and fast," Järudd said. "We found ourselves in phase with the shifts quite well."

ILCA 7

Double Olympic champion Matt Wearn of Australia continues to lead the ILCA 7s heading into the Finals series – now contested over two 10-boat races rather than a double-points Medal Race. Britain's Micky Beckett, the defending Sofía champion, has moved up from tenth to third.

ILCA 6

Ireland's Evie McMahon has surged to the top of the ILCA 6 standings after a 2-1 scoreline, overtaking Day 1 joint leaders Matilda Nicholls of Britain and Poland's Wiktoria Gołębiowska. The 2025 world championship bronze medallist waited hours ashore for the wind to settle. "It was pretty crazy," she said. "You can't take your eye off the ball for a second, otherwise you're completely out of phase with the windshifts."

Bermuda’s Adriana Penruddocke and Nicholls now sit in second and third, respectively.

Formula Kite

After the first day of Kite racing, Italy's Riccardo Pianosi leads the Men's Formula Kite with three wins from four heats. Holland's Jessie Kampman mirrors that record at the top of the Women's standings.

iQFOiL

The iQFOiLs began today, too, and Britain's Duncan Monaghan holds a slender one-point lead in the Men's division after four heats, just ahead of Noah Lyons (USA) and Johan Søe (DEN).

Poland's Anastasiya Valkevich leads the Women's iQFOiL fleet, two points ahead of Tamar Steinberg (ISR) and Marta Maggetti (ITA).

A sun-soaked Bay of Palma looked glorious as ever on Monday, but the wind had other ideas. A brisk northerly gave way to a near-shutdown, forcing the 470s to wait for a new breeze to come along. Shifts of 30 degrees – at one point 100 – made life uncomfortable for even the biggest names in the fleet. Conditions swung between 5 and 18 knots, with the 49er blue fleet stuck out on the course for six hours as officials chased the breeze.

470 Mixed

Spain's Jordi Xammar and Marta Cardona sit top despite a UFD in Race 1 – a disqualification that left them baffled. "Our coach was complaining that our start was so bad it was strange to get a UFD," Xammar laughed. "Unfortunately, we didn't have the best start," Cardona added. "But we managed to do two good races after – a second and a race win. It was one of the most difficult days on the water, but a great start, and I'm so happy to be back racing."

Portugal's Diogo Costa and Carolina Joao, who led this class after Day 1 last year, are level on three points. Italy's Elena Berta and Giulio Calabrò sit third with the lowest net points of the day – a composed 3-3-4 across all three races. Britain's defending Sofía champions Martin Wrigley and Bettine Harris – and recently crowned 470 European champs – had a day to forget, sitting 31st after discarding a DNC.

49er

Three crews from three different flights share the lead on three points: Denmark's Frederik Rask and Jakob Precht, France's Lucas Rual and Emile Amoros, and Australia's Harry Price and Max Paul. The Netherlands' Bart Lambriex van Aanholt and Floris van de Werken – three-time world champions returning after a year away – opened with a win and sit well placed. Last year's Sofía winners Erwan Fischer and Clement Pequin are down in 28th but rebounded with a third in Race 3. One eye-catching performance came from Hungary's Roni Öszkár Szabó and Oliver Páis-Hank – just a year into their 49er careers, the pair looked unfazed by the company they're keeping.

49er FX

Belgium's 2024 European champions Isaura Maenhaut and Anouk Geurts lead with a second and a win. Spanish world champions Paula Barceló and Maria Cantero are right behind, with Swedish vice world champions Vilma Bobeck and Ebba Berntsson also in the mix. Britain's Freya Black and Saskia Tidey, who won here in 2025, are fourth.

One intriguing storyline is unfolding in the Dutch camp, where Olympic gold medallist Odile van Aanholt is racing her first regatta since winning in Paris. The team is rotating crew and testing different crew combinations – Italy’s Jana Germani and Norway’s Helene Naess are currently helming as part of the Dutch experiment.

Nacra 17

Sweden holds the top two spots. Emil Jarudd and Hanna Jonsson have two wins from three; compatriots Ida Svensson and Marcus Dackhammar are second. Both Swedish crews read the shifts better than anyone, and on foils, getting it right early pays compound interest. Britain's world champions John Gimson and Anna Burnet are sixth.

ILCA 7

Double Olympic champion Matt Wearn leads on six points after banking a race win in the second heat, though the margins behind him are razor-thin. Ryan Lo, Bruno Gaspic, Lorenzo Chiavarini, Finn Lynch and Filip Jurišić all sit within two points of the lead. Former world champion Philipp Buhl and previous Sofía winner Micky Beckett are ninth and tenth, close enough to pounce. All this after a brutal day on the water – starting around 12:30, they were still finishing Race 2 as the clock hit 18:00.

ILCA 6

One race was all the Women's fleet could squeeze in. Britain's Matilda Nicholls and Poland's Wiktoria Gołębiowska share the early lead; Estonia's Romi Safin and American Christina Sakellaris are level in third. A long way still to go.

Still to come

The Kite and iQFOiL fleets start racing Tuesday.