Francesco Cappuzzo (ITA) and Paula Novotná (CZE) have won the men’s and women’s fleets after a stormy finale to the Sabfoil Wingfoil Racing World Cup & Open European Championships on Lake Garda in Italy.
Britain’s Ellie Aldridge took silver behind Czech Paula Novotna who took a clean-sweep of the five women’s races to claim the 2022 European title. Ceris Orane of France took the bronze.
Last week was a special one for Aldridge who took the bronze medal at the Formula Kite World Championships in Sardinia.
While the Olympic campaign on the high-speed kitefoil is Aldridge’s ‘day job’, she also considers the wingfoil to be a useful form of cross-training.
As well as the opportunity to spend time with her dad Martin Aldridge, the former Olympic windsurfer racing in the men’s bronze fleet.
Francesco Cappuzzo won three of the men’s five races to steal the European title from Mathis Ghio of France by less than a point.
Mathis Ghio took silver and third Luca Franchi of Italy the bronze.
Best British competitors were Rafferty Read 6th in the Silver Fleet, Martin Aldridge 8th in the bronze Fleet.
Ghio was disappointed to have come so close to winning and not quite keep hold of the title that look set to go his way.
Ever the gracious sportsman, the 19-year-old French rider said he would learn from his mistakes and come back stronger for the next World Cup event in Brazil in two months’ time.
Women – WingFoil World Cup Italy & 2022 European Championship
1st CZE Paula Novotna 1 1 1 1 1 – – 8 pts
2nd GBR Ellie Aldridge 2 2 2 4 2 – – 17 pts
3rd FRA Ceris Orane 3 -4 3 3 4 – – 22 pts
4th ITA Maddalena Maria Spanu 4 3 -6 2 3 – – 23 pts
5th ITA Margherita Barro -8 7 4 8 5 – – 45 pts
6th ITA Sofia Trentini 5 5 8 6 6 – – 46 pts
7th ITA Marta Monge 7 6 7 7 7 – – 50 pts
8th NED Mariska Wildenberg 6 8 5 5 8 – – 55 pts
9th ITA Marisol Depretto 11 11 11 9 9 – – 75 pts
10th ITA Elena Guazzaloca 11 11 11 10 11 – – 81 pts
Men – WingFoil World Cup Italy & 2022 European Championship
1st ITA Francesco Cappuzzo 2 -7 1 1 1 – – 12.6 pts
2nd FRA Mathis Ghio 1 3 3 -6 3 – – 13.4 pts
3rd ITA Luca Franchi -6 6 2 2 2 – – 18 pts
4th FRA Bastien Escofet 4 1 -7 7 4 – – 25.7 pts
5th FRA Colmas Clement -8 4 5 8 5 – – 27 pts
6th FRA Mateo Dussarps -10 5 4 4 9 – – 28.3 pts
7th ITA Nicolo Spanu 3 8 (15.0 DNF) 3 7 – – 32.3 pts
8th ITA Alessandro Jose Tomasi 11 2 (15.0 DNF) 5 11 – – 33 pts
9th ITA Riccardo Zorzi 5 -11 6 10 8 – – 37.4 pts
10th GER May Benjamin 9 9 8 9 -10 – – 48 pts
