{"id":890160,"date":"2026-04-13T01:25:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T01:25:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/890160\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T01:25:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T01:25:15","slug":"formulawing-france-celebrates-double-european-gold-in-naples","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/890160\/","title":{"rendered":"FormulaWing &#8211; France celebrates double European gold in Naples"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>France has achieved a remarkable feat by securing both the men\u2019s and women\u2019s titles at the Formula Wing European Championships in Naples, marking a dominant double gold success. Italy finished with two silver medals.<\/p>\n<p>The final day of the competition featured a north-easterly breeze which inhibited the expected Neapolitan thermal winds. Consequently, race officials had to progressively cancel the races throughout the afternoon before declaring racing abandoned, allowing the existing leaderboard to stand.<\/p>\n<p>Despite limited on-water action, the day was not without its excitement. The cancellation of the Golden Ticket race initially provided Italy\u2019s Francesco Cappuzzo and Charlotte Baruzzi, who were both positioned 10th overall, a chance to enter the medal series. However, their opportunity vanished when the quarter-finals were also cancelled due to the persistent calm.<\/p>\n<p>With 12 races completed in the women\u2019s fleet and 13 in the men\u2019s on preceding days, championship results were confirmed, triggering celebrations along the Naples waterfront, set against the stunning backdrop of Mount Vesuvius.<\/p>\n<p>Women\u2019s Title<\/p>\n<p>France emerged as the standout nation of the regatta, claiming both European titles and a total of four medals. In the women\u2019s competition, <strong>16-year-old Vaina Picot<\/strong> delivered an extraordinary performance, becoming the youngest Formula Wing European champion. Picot dominated the series, winning nine of the 12 races despite challenging conditions. \u201cI\u2019m so happy. The conditions were super tricky all week but I managed to adapt well and that is very satisfying,\u201d remarked Picot amidst celebratory moments with her family.<\/p>\n<p>Defending champion Maddalena Spanu faced difficulties throughout the regatta but showcased commendable resolve to secure the silver medal.<\/p>\n<p>Men\u2019s Title<\/p>\n<p>The men\u2019s title was clinched by <strong>Julien Rattotti<\/strong>, whose victory was the result of diligent preparation over the winter. Rattotti exhibited remarkable consistency, finishing mostly within the top two placings, despite a minor dip in performance on the penultimate day. He now adds the Formula Wing European title to his Wave world title, expressing his disbelief and joy: \u201cI need to stop for a moment, my brain can\u2019t understand what\u2019s happened. I\u2019m so happy. I phoned my dad in Cannes. He said he had to rush home to tell all our friends!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The home crowd celebrated a strong showing from 17-year-old Ernesto de Amicis, who claimed silver and made his family and city proud, saying, \u201cIt\u2019s been fantastic that Naples has put on such a great show. My dad was involved in the organisation of this event and the Savoia yacht and rowing club have been a great host.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>France\u2019s medal tally was further enhanced by bronze medals for Thomas Proust and Kylie Belloeuvre, highlighting the depth of talent within both fleets.<\/p>\n<p>The event concluded with a medal ceremony on a warm spring evening along the seaside promenade, as the sun set beyond the island of Ischia. The international wingfoiling circuit will return to Italy in early July for the Wingfoil Racing World Cup in Gizzeria, Calabria, while action continues in countries such as Turkey and Switzerland.<\/p>\n<p>Text Credits: IWSA Media<br \/>Photo Credits: IWSA Media \/ Robert Hajduk<br \/>Video Credits:\u00a0ICARUS Sports<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wingfoilracing.com\/?utm_source=mysailing&amp;utm_medium=news\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">https:\/\/www.wingfoilracing.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>#wingfoilracing #SailingNews #WingFoilChampionships #FranceSailing #NaplesItaly<\/p>\n<p>Interested in seeing more Racing News? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mysailing.com.au\/racing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Click here<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow our coverage of what\u2019s happening in the foiling World <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mysailing.com.au\/category\/foiling\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Click here<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tPost navigation<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mysailing.com.au\/antigua-racing-cup-class-winners-honoured\/\" rel=\"prev nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u00a0Antigua Racing Cup \u2013 Class Winners Honoured<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mysailing.com.au\/2026-sail-port-stephens-commodores-cup-passage-series\/\" rel=\"next nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2026 Sail Port Stephens Commodores Cup Passage Series\u00a0<\/a>\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"France has achieved a remarkable feat by securing both the men\u2019s and women\u2019s titles at the Formula Wing&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":890161,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5309],"tags":[157644,2000,299,123241,36,168964,157645],"class_list":["post-890160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-france","tag-buffer","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-foiling","tag-france","tag-race-results","tag-regatta-reports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116394795089993648","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=890160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/890161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=890160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=890160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=890160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}