Carrieri crashes the Spanish party, Chiantera retakes the lead and Bombana edges towards European glory. The championship is heading for a blockbuster finish, with one day remaining and not a single title decided.
Another full day of racing in Mar Menor threw up lead changes, comebacks and championship-defining swings, reshaping the podium picture across all three fleets with just one day left to sail.
By the time the fleet launches for the final day, 119 sailors from 16 nations will have one last shot at writing their name into the record books. Spread across three rigs – 8.2, 7.5 and 6.9 – and seven age divisions from U-15 juniors to Super Masters, this is a championship with depth in every direction, and tomorrow it all comes to a head at once.
Carrieri Breaks Through
For four days, Spain owned the 8.2 podium. Not anymore.
Francesco Carrieri (ITA) produced his strongest sailing of the week, opening the day with a race win before backing it up with a fourth and a second to storm into third overall. A costly mid-fleet result simply became his discard – the springboard for one of the biggest moves of the regatta. Remarkably, Carrieri is doing it as a U-19 sailor, the only youngster standing on the senior 8.2 podium.
At the front, Antonio Gasperini (ESP) still looks every bit the championship favourite. Two race wins and two more podium finishes tightened his grip on the overall lead, while Alberto Morales Hernández (ESP) holds firm in second.
The reshuffle came just behind them. Matteo Chaboud (FRA) surged to fourth, pushing Miguel Ángel Morales Hernández (ESP) down to fifth and ending Spain’s clean sweep of the podium for the first time this week. Morales Hernández does, at least, still top the U-21 division – one of several sub-plots simmering beneath the title race.
The maths still favours Gasperini, but the championship is anything but over. Eleven points separate first from second, with another twelve back to Carrieri. With up to five races left to sail, the door remains firmly open.
Chiantera Lands the Counter Punch
Giuseppe Chiantera (ITA) reclaimed top spot after another clinical day, combining race-winning speed with remarkable consistency. Across 13 races, he has finished outside the top ten just once – the foundation of a campaign built on relentless execution rather than flashes of brilliance.
Overnight leader Louise Metenier (FRA) refused to go quietly, but two deeper finishes proved expensive. With every discard now spent, every result on the final day counts.
The 7.5 has become the championship’s youngest and most cosmopolitan battleground: three of the top four overall are teenagers, and three of the top four are women. Mina Ferguson (AUS) lit up the racecourse, winning three of the day’s four races to rocket into fourth overall. The charge also lifts her to third in the WASZP Women’s Championship, where Metenier leads from Olivia Castaldi (ITA) – and with just one point splitting second from third, the women’s podium is set for a grandstand finish.
Four races remain. Four points separate the top two. It doesn’t get much tighter.
Bombana Tightens Her Grip
If anyone looked in control today, it was Elisa Bombana (ITA).
She delivered another composed masterclass, winning the opening race and adding three straight second places to stretch her lead to four points. And this is an all-Italian affair: every boat in the six-strong 6.9 fleet flies the Italian flag, and Bombana is the only woman in the division – yet she leads the entire fleet outright. Jacopo Andrian (ITA) and Edoardo Marcantonio (ITA) keep up the chase in second and third, but Bombana heads into the final day with one hand on the European title.
One good day is all that stands between her and championship glory.
The Championship Runs Deeper Than the Podium
Behind the battles at the front of each fleet, a clutch of age-group divisions will be settled on the very same final day – each with a European trophy of its own on the line.
In the 8.2, Gasperini and Alberto Morales Hernández sit one-two in the Core (21–29) bracket as well as overall, while Carrieri tops the U-19s and Miguel Ángel Morales Hernández the U-21s. Further back, Samson Cross (GBR) leads the Masters, and the Super Masters carries a familiar name – WASZP designer Andrew McDougall (AUS) sits second, chasing Spain’s Mikel Vázquez (ESP).
In the 7.5, Salvador Suárez Algarra (ESP) leads the U-17 division and sits an eye-catching ninth overall, mixing it with sailors years his senior, while Dahlia Fyfe (NZL) is the leading under-17 woman. Chiantera’s runaway lead has him out front in both the 7.5 Men and U-19 standings.
And in the 6.9, Daniel Castaldi (ITA) heads the U-15s, the youngest sailors on the water.
But at a WASZP regatta, the best stories are rarely at the very front. Deep in the 83-boat 8.2 fleet, Will Troop (AUS) closed the day with a fourth and a fifth in the final two races – the kind of afternoon that makes a whole week. Louis Tilly (AUS), sitting 13th, already has a race win to his name, proof that on any given start anyone in this fleet can beat the best. Simon Kaiser (SUI) dug out a sixth in the closing stages, while over in the 7.5, Elsa Aronsson (SWE) banked a fourth in the penultimate race. None of them are in the hunt for a title – but this is a class where a personal-best race counts for just as much.
Come tomorrow evening, it won’t just be the fleet leaders crowned in Mar Menor – there are trophies to be won right across the fleets.
One Day. One Final Show Down.
It all comes down to tomorrow.
Can Antonio Gasperini finish the job after leading for almost the entire championship?
Can Giuseppe Chiantera hold off the relentless pressure in the 7.5 fleet?
Can Elisa Bombana complete a week of dominance?
And can the fleet’s unsung racers – the Will Troops and Elsa Aronssons – sign off with a result to remember?
One day remains. The titles are still up for grabs. Mar Menor is ready for the decider.