54th Trofeo Princesa Sofia wraps up in Palma
by Alexia Lahoud / 49er and Nacra 17 Sailing 6 Apr 02:30 AEDT
31 March - 5 April 2025
54th Trofeo Princesa Sofia Mallorca by FERGUS © Sailing Energy / Trofeo Princesa Sofía Mallorca
The 54th edition of the Trofeo Princesa Sofia wrapped up on April 5th in Palma de Mallorca after a week of challenging and varied racing conditions.
Sailors faced everything from strong winds and big waves to light airs and flat water, giving the fleet a real test across the board at Club Nàutic Arenal.
This event kicks off the new Olympic campaign toward Los Angeles 2028. Most teams arrived early to train at the venue, while others came in straight from their winter blocks. The boat park was buzzing, with a mix of familiar names and new faces. Some sailors have stepped up from the youth ranks, others have switched crews—or even classes entirely. With the post-Olympic pause finally behind, Palma felt like a proper restart.
49er: French World Champs bounce back in Palma
After being crowned World Champions in 2024, the French duo of Erwan Fischer and Clément Péquin came into this event looking to build on that momentum. Despite their world title, last season wasn't smooth all the way through—Palma in 2024 didn't go as planned, and the Olympics were a disappointment by their own standards. They used the offseason to reset and refocus.
This time around in Palma, their approach was more measured. "We had quite a lot of ups and downs on the last campaign," said Péquin. "We're trying to do things a bit differently now—be more consistent. Before, we were taking too many risks on the race course. We've worked a lot on our starts, and this week, we tried to keep it simple and play it safe when we could."
It worked. Fischer and Péquin stayed solid all week and topped the fleet to take their second Trofeo Sofia title (the first was in 2022). A great sign for their LA 2028 campaign—and a strong bounce back after a mixed 2024.
Fischer, who will become a father next month, will miss the next two major regattas since he will become a father. Péquin will sail with Erwan's brother, Kevin, in the meantime.
Germany's 19-year-old Richard Schultheis, sailing with Fabien Reigler, impressed in their first event together, taking silver. Denmark's Frederik Rask and Jakob Precht Jensen closed out the podium with bronze.
49erFX: British Team start strong
In the 49erFX, Freya Black and Saskia Tidey from Team GB led early and never let it slip, converting their points lead into a win in the medal race. Their performance marks a strong start to their LA 2028 campaign.
Sharing the wave of high British emotions at Arenal Freya Black smiled, "To be honest this week it has been a little bit our conditions, we kind of like the gusty, offshore conditions. Growing up in the UK we get that a lot sailing when we are growing up. But we came here with confidence to medal and that is exactly what we did. We got back in the boat in January as it is going to be a long season with the Worlds in January, so we made sure we were ready for this event.
There were a range of things we could see we needed to improve on that we debriefed after the Olympics, especially our starting and we just know at the Olympics we did not show what were made of and we feel we have done so here..."
Denmark's Johanne and Andrea Schmidt secured silver, while Norway's Pia Dahl Andersen and Nora Edland rounded out the top three.
Nacra 17: Surprise finish in the Medal Race
The Nacra 17 class saw a shake-up in the final race. The Italian team of Gianluigi Ugolini and Maria Giubilei had been leading the last half of the week with consistent sailing, continuing the strong legacy of Italian dominance in this class. But in the medal race, Britain's John Gimson and Anna Burnet—silver medallists in Tokyo—snatched the win.
It was their first major title since getting married after Paris 2024. Gimson and Burnet had taken time away from the boat post-Olympics and used this regatta to reset.
Burnet said, "We had no results expectations coming here. We had a lot of time off after the Games. We knew we were going to be a bit rusty. We had some process goals we were trying this week and it has been a long regatta so good for that kind of thing." Helm Gimson added, "We got some luck that made us look good. But we were certainly lucky it is our kind of conditions 8 or 9 knots, if we could pick a medal race conditions that would be it. And just the way it panned out we picked the right shift and the others fell away. The numbers worked out."
Ugolini and Giubilei held on for second overall, while China's Huangcheng Zhao and Su Sha continued their impressive rise by finishing third—marking the first time a Chinese team has made the Nacra 17 medal race in Palma.
Looking ahead
The medal ceremony takes place tonight at the Palma Cathedral at 8pm, closing out a successful return to top-level racing. Next stop for the Olympic classes is Hyères, France, for the Semaine Olympique Française from April 19-26. Most of the teams that were her in Palma are expected to be there as the 2025 season continues to heat up.