Nacra 17 Tokyo Olympics: Gold Medal for Mighty Italians Ruggero Tita & Caterina Banti

by Editor · Published August 3, 2021 · Updated November 1, 2021

All images © Sailing Energy / World Sailing — Nacra 17 Tokyo Olympic Gold Medal went to the Mighty Italian crew of Ruggero Tita & Caterina Banti. Such a dominance display past years only comparable to what Besson & Riou did for the Rio campaign. Sadly the french team couldn’t complete the task in 2016 as Billy suffered a back injury.

It was a full perfect story for the Italians though, they had so much dominance on the fleet that many wondered if they could replicate it in the Games. Well, they certainly did.

Italy had two competitive crews, with Bissaro & Frascari pushing the limits of their mates till the very end of the campaign. Tita & Banti had a soft spot, which was light winds.
We had races in light conditions past week at Enoshima, Tita & Banti performed, closing the door for any weakness their competitors would have taken to their advantage.

No soft spot whatsoever for the Italians now, a Mighty powerful and lighting fast crew who were destined to win the Nacra 17 Gold Medal beforehand.

Deserved as few, we bow before them!

Silver Medal for another country that have their teams competing each other to the last moment, John Gimson & Anna Burnet peaked in the right moment before Tokyo winning 2020 Worlds and the British Team selection process payed big time. Their mates Ben Saxton & Nikki Boniface had a great level too, so no wonder Italy & GBR are finished in the Olympic Podium.

Bronze was a really good story for one of our favorite Nacra 17 crews, we’ve been following Paul Kolhoff & Alica Stuhlemmer for a while, when they were blasting at Kieler Woche some years ago without many top riders in that regatta for ie. But the live stream showed these two were ready for bigger things.

In the Medal Race, they had to complete a penalty, and were at the back the majority of the race, later on their superior speed entered once more to finish ahead Australia & Spain to grab third overall in an impressive way.
Paul couldn’t believe it when they crossed the finish line, looking backwards to do some quick calcs and then realized they had they’ve won Bronze!

This podium is a picture of the new guard. Many teams also had a great performance, specially Denmark & Spain. The two female helms had chances of podium no doubt too. Lin Cenholt & Christian Lubeck finished 4th overall and Tara Pacheco & Florian Trittel 6th ahead of 2016 Gold Medalists.

Arg
Lange & Carranza won the Medal race, but were a bit behind the top riders during the Olympic Regatta. Still adapting from floating to foiling in such a good way plus being close to the top 5 its a great achievement for both. They will continue to race Nacra 17 no doubt, but we are sure this time the Arg Federation and Lange himself will give place and part of his immense deserved & dedicated budget to the talented young teams coming from behind, Italy and GBR are models to follow no doubt in this aspect.

Aussies
Rio Silver medalists, Jason Waterhouse & Lisa Darmanin, finished 9th in the Medal Race, and saw their chances of podium vanished. Many Games left for both, Lange started his Olympic Campaign back in 1988 in Laser…! Same goes for the rest of the teams.

On the Medal Race, I don’t see the appeal, its easier for the leaders to play at will, less boats, more room, clear air make for a more relaxed strategy, no one is caught behind 20 boats in the start , harder to see your opponent in a larger fleet etc. Just remind 2019 F18 Worlds last race as a recent example. We don’t buy this format , instead of adding thrill its just a walk in the park for the leaders in the average.

In the end a successful Games for the Nacra 17 Foiling version, the most exciting Class, fastest around representing Sailing as a sport to look up for for the new generations.

Top Ten, complete results https://tokyo2020.sailing.org/results-centre/

Pos	Flag	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	R11	R12	MR	Tot	Net
1	ITA	Ruggero Tita Caterina Banti	1	3	1	2	5	1	-8	3	2	2	1	2	12	43	35
2	GBR	John Gimson Anna Burnet	7	5	2	1	1	2	5	-10	1	5	2	4	10	55	45
3	GER	Paul Kohlhoff Alica Stuhlemmer	5	1	7	3	3	-11	3	2	8	3	6	6	16	74	63
4	DEN	Lin Cenholt Christian Lubeck	8	8	10	7	2	4	-13	11	11	1	3	1	4	83	70
5	AUS	Jason Waterhouse Lisa Darmanin	2	-11	4	4	7	8	1	5	4	6	5	8	18	83	72
6	ESP	Tara Pacheco van Rijnsoever Florian Trittel Paul	4	6	6	10	6	3	7	1	7	9	-13	3	14	89	76
7	ARG	Santiago Raul Lange Cecilia Carranza Saroli	6	2	5	8	4	6	6	-14	10	8	11	9	2	91	77
8	FRA	Quentin Delapierre Manon Audinet	-18	4	3	5	9	7	10	4	13	7	7	7	8	102	84
9	USA	Riley Gibbs Anna Weis	9	7	12	6	11	-13	9	12	5	13	4	5	6	112	99
10	BRA	Samuel Albrecht Gabriela Nicolino	10	14	9	9	10	10	2	7	6	-18	10	10	20	135	117