Matisse Pacaud and Lucie de Gennes, bronze in the 470 class at the Trofeo Princesa Sofía
by Jean François Cutugno 7 Apr 13:01 BST
30 March - 4 April 2026
Matisse Pacaud and Lucie de Gennes on day 3 in the 470 Class at 55th Trofeo Princesa Sofia © Sailing Energy / Trofeo Princesa Sofía
From 27 March to 4 April 2026, in Palma de Mallorca in the Balearic Islands, the Sailing Grand Slam Trofeo Princesa Sofía, the 55th of its name, one of the benchmark Olympic regattas, launched the international season and the World Cup.
Facing all the big nations taking part at the World Championship, the young Cannes sailors Matisse Pacaud and Lucie de Gennes shone, wore the yellow lycra of the leaders for a large part of the event.
On this typically Mediterranean stretch of water, the week was marked by particularly capricious weather conditions - alternating light oscillating winds and breezes. At the end of the two Medal Races reserved for the top ten, the members of the Yacht Club de Cannes and members of the French Olympic team, crowned French Elite champions in mid-February in Marseille, finished third, behind the Spaniards Jordi Xammar-Hernandez and Marta Cardona-Alcantara, reigning world champions, and the Englishmen Martin Wrigley and Bettie Harris, recent European champions in Vilamoura (Portugal).
Matisse Pacaud: "It's been an incredible week. We came out on top in the qualifications on Tuesday evening. We arrived in the final in fourth place, one point behind the other Frenchmen. In the last race, we stayed glued to the last tack. And downwind, we made an incredible tack, where we gained four places. That's how we recreate the gap and get back in front in the general standings. Frankly, until the last moment, it was really hot. But we remained quite efficient technically. It's our first podium in a Grand Slam event. There was adrenaline, stress... But we're very happy."
Lucie de Gennes: "This medal feels good after a bit of a hard winter and a disappointing European Championship where we finished seventh. It's very encouraging to see that we really manage to stay ahead all week. We felt at the beginning of the spring that we had done a really good job and that we could play among the leaders."
Matisse Pacaud and Lucie de Gennes will compete in the French Olympic Week in Hyères in mid-April, also counting towards the Sailing Grand Slam, where they will meet Spaniards, English, Italians, Germans, Japanese... all in the running for the Los Angeles Olympics in two years. In July, they will race on the future Olympic race zone in Long Beach during the Test Event, before continuing with the 470 World Championships in Japan. Finally, Matisse Pacaud, pre-selected as helmsman in the Akademy K-Challenge for the Youth America's Cup 2027 in Naples, will also train in ETF 26 and AC 40.