Luna Rossa (Italy) has been proclaimed winner of the first edition of the Puig Copa del América Femenina by defeating Athena Pathway-Ineos (United Kingdom), the big favorite, by eight seconds in the final this Saturday. With the victory, the Italian team achieves a double after also winning in the youth category and inaugurates the record in the women’s category, which is held for the first time in history in Barcelona after 173 years of competition.
With a team led by the two-time world champion Giulia Conti (38 years old) and the young Margherita Porro (25), the Italians have dominated the final regatta from start to finish, always keeping their rivals between 6 and 10 seconds behind. The efforts of the legendary Hanna Mills, 38-year-old double Olympic champion and three-time world champion, to look for alternatives on the Barcelona sea have been of no use. The British team has not competed with its usual AC40 that it shared with Canada. After the breakdowns suffered in the previous regattas by the Canadian team, Athenea had to compete in the final with the reserve sailboat of Team New Zealand.
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The first women’s America’s Cup in history aims to modernize the largest sailing competition in the world and bring it closer to women, historically focused on team development and design tasks, but without a role in the sailing sports team.
“There is no reason why women can’t handle a boat like us,” defends Team New Zealand helmsman Nathan Outridge. “None of us finalist helmsmen have much muscle in our arms, so I definitely can’t say that they can’t handle and adjust these boats. The Copa del América Femenina has opened the door wide for that, and I am sure that something like this is going to happen very soon,” he says.
The women’s competition has left the greatest success in Spain. The Spanish team Sail Team BCN, formed by Silvia Mas, Neus Ballester, María Cantero and Paula Barceló, finished third after winning two of the four semi-final regattas and falling just short of the final.
