Olympic season starts in Palma

The 2026 Sailing Grand Slam season gets underway for the ten Olympic events as nearly 900 entrants gather at the 55th edition of the Trofeo Princesa Sofia in Mallorca, Spain. Sixty-two countries will compete March 30-April 4.

With snow on the mountains of Mallorca, a forecast of strong but shifty northerly winds will present a bone-chilling challenge across seven different race courses on the Bay of Palma.

“It’s not going to be a classic week in Palma,” said British 49er sailor James Grummett. “Traditionally we’d expect a nice sea breeze to come in slightly later in the day. I don’t think we’re going to see a sea breeze all week. We’re looking at northerly or north-easterly winds. Cold and windy, at least for the first few days.”

This means the breeze is likely to be blowing off the shore, whistling through the gaps between the hotels, restaurants and shops that line the 6 kilometres of promenade looking out on to the Bay of Palma. “I think the offshore breeze might make the racing a bit wacky towards the end of the week, but we quite enjoy that kind of stuff. You have to take the rough with the smooth,” said Grummett.

Another big change is a move towards new race formats that put a great emphasis on performing well on the final day of competition. No more eking out a solid series of consistency across the whole week, at least, because that approach no longer guarantees success.

“The new format puts the leaders under more pressure,” said Bettine Harris (GBR), who won last year in the 470.. “But in a way it puts everyone under more pressure across the whole fleet. I think it’s going to be interesting to see how things play out this week.”

The first day of racing for the boat classes – 470, Nacra 17, ILCA 6, ILCA 7, 49er, and 49erFX – is March 30 with the board fleets – kiteboards and windsurfers – beginning a day later. The medals in all 10 events will be decided April 4.

Details: https://www.trofeoprincesasofia.org/en/default/races/race

Here’s a preview at each of the 10 fleets and some of the athletes to watch…

Nacra 17: The foiling catamaran
Last year’s winners in Palma and the reigning World Champions from Great Britain, John Gimson and Anna Burnet, will start as favorites in the Nacra 17 foiling catamaran. Their usual rivals from Italy are absent from competition due to America’s Cup training commitments, but there’ll be strong challenges from Argentina’s Olympic silver medalists, Mateo Majdalani and Eugenia Bosco, as well as the return to competition of Paris 2024 bronze medalist Micah Wilkinson, now sailing with fellow New Zealander Kate Stewart.

470 Mixed
Spain’s Jordi Xammar and Marta Cardona have won a lot of things over the past year they’ve been sailing together, including the 2025 World and European titles. However, the Spaniards took bronze at the recent European Championship in Portugal behind Italians, Giacomo Ferrari and Alessandra Dubbini, with the gold going to Martin Wrigley and Bettine Harris from Britain. Seeing as Wrigley and Harris won in Palma last year, they start as marginal favorites ahead of the Spanish team.

49erFX Women’s Skiff
Last year’s winners from Great Britain, Freya Black and Saskia Tidey, will be looking to open their season with another morale-boosting victory on the Bay of Palma. However, local sailor from Arenal, former crew Paula Barcelo shocked everyone with her rapid transition to the back of the 49erFX skiff by winning the 2025 world title with new sheet-hand Maria Cantero. The Spanish team will probably start as favorites, although only marginally ahead of the likes of Sweden’s Vilma Bobeck and Ebba Berntsson who narrowly missed out on the world title last season. And then there’s the reigning Olympic Champion from the Netherlands, Odile van Aanholt, who’s back on the water after taking time out in 2025 when she gave birth to her baby daughter. She’s now teamed up with new partner Marissa Ijben, and it will be interesting to see how quickly the Dutch can find their feet together.

49er Men’s Skiff
A strong-wind forecast marks out last year’s 49er winners, Erwan Fischer and Clement Pequin, as a hot tip to defend their title. The French are the 2024 World Champions in the men’s skiff, although they’ll have to be at their best to keep the three-time World Champions at bay, Bart Lambriex van Aanholt and Floris van der Werken from the Netherlands.

iQFOiL Women
Olympic bronze medalist Emma Wilson continues to show phenomenally consistent form in the women’s windsurfing. The Briton won here in Palma last year, when she beat China’s Zheng Yan who took silver, with Veerle Ten Have from the Netherlands taking bronze. All three can expect to be in contention again, with plenty of competition expected from strong Israeli and Italian squads, not least the Olympic Champion Marta Maggetti.

iQFOiL Men
Olympic silver medalist Grae Morris won in Palma a year ago, but the Australian knows there are plenty of rivals who can topple him from his perch. Serious rivals include last year’s runner-up from Italy, Nicolo Renna, Dutchman Luuc van Opzeeland, and Israel’s Olympic Champion Tom Reuveny.

ILCA 6 Women
Last year Australia’s Zoe Thomson took the top spot in Palma. This year she is one of eight competitors in a strong Aussie ILCA 6 squad. France’s Louise Cervera won last year’s world title in China and will be looking to challenge Thomson for top spot this week, along with other usual suspects like former World Champions from Belgium and Hungary, respectively Emma Plasschaert and Maris Erdi.

ILCA 7 Men
Micky Beckett (GBR) has shown incredible mastery on the Bay of Palma in recent years, winning the title for four successive years. Can he make it a fifth this week? Most likely to break Beckett’s dominance is the reigning Olympic Champion from Australia, Matt Wearn, or the double Olympic silver medalist from Cyprus, Pavlos Kontides.

Formula Kite Women
China’s Wan Li won a year ago in Palma and heads a strong Chinese squad in Formula Kite Women this week. Britain’s Lily Young took silver last year and – after a nasty injury at the end of last season – would be delighted if she can fight her way back on to the podium again. Reigning World Champion Jessie Kampman from the Netherlands is probably the favorite, although France’s Olympic silver medalist and former World Champion Lauriane Nolot will doubtless be a contender.

Formula Kite Men
Max Maeder has dominated in men’s Formula Kite for many years, including winning the last three editions of the Trofeo Princesa Sofia. However, while the Singaporean beat his friend and rival from Italy, Riccardo Pianosi, in Palma a year ago, Pianosi took his revenge by claiming the world title in Sardinia last October. Aside from this rivalry, reigning Olympic Champion from Austria, Valentin Bontus, makes his return to top-flight competition after missing a chunk of last season due to injury.

The 55th Trofeo Princesa Sofía Mallorca by FERGUS Hotels is part of the Sailing Grand Slam 2026 alongside the Semaine Olympique Française, Dutch Water Week, Kieler Woche, and Long Beach/San Pedro Olympic Classes Regatta.

2026 Sailing Grand Slam
March 27-April 4: Trofeo Princesa Sofía Mallorca – Mallorca, Spain
April 18-25: Semaine Olympique Française – Hyères, France
May 30-June 7: Dutch Water Week – Almere, Netherlands
June 20-28: Kieler Woche – Kiel, Germany
Jule 13-August 7: Pre-Olympic Event – Los Angeles and Long Beach, USA*

* Location and dates:
July 13-16, ​iQFOiL, Formula Kite – ​Long Beach
July 20-25, ​ILCA 6, ILCA 7, 470​​ – Los Angeles
August 3-8, ​49er, 4erFX, Nacra 17 – Los Angeles

Details: https://sailinggrandslam.com/

Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Sailing Program (July 16-28):
First Week – July 16-20
Men’s Kiteboard – Formula Kite Class – Long Beach, CA
Women’s Kiteboard – Formula Kite Class – Long Beach, CA
Men’s Windsurfing – iQFOiL – Long Beach, CA
Women’s Windsurfing – iQFOiL – Long Beach, CA

Second Week – July 23-28
Men’s One Person Dinghy – ILCA 7 – Los Angeles, CA
Women’s One Person Dinghy – ILCA 6 – Los Angeles, CA
Mixed Two Person Dinghy – 470 – Los Angeles, CA
Men’s Skiff – 49er – Los Angeles, CA
Women’s Skiff – 49erFX – Los Angeles, CA
Mixed Multihull – Nacra 17 – Los Angeles, CA

For more details, click here.