Lisa Vucetti and Vittorio Bonifacio from Italy are the new Junior World Champions after an exciting Medal Series. The Italian team won two gold medals – the overall Junior World Championship title and the Under-21 title.
The fight for the title was very close. Before the final race, the Italians were tied on points with the 2025 World Champions, Roy Levy and Ariel Gal from Israel. Levy and Gal started the day by winning the first Medal Series race. Vucetti and Bonifacio finished fifth, while the French team of Lomane Valade and Julien Bunel crossed the finish line in tenth place. With one race left, all three teams still had a chance to win the championship.
The second and final race changed everything. Valade and Bunel finished second, Vucetti and Bonifacio were third, and Levy and Gal came seventh. Consistent sailing throughout the championship helped the Italian team secure the Junior World Championship title.
Vittorio Bonifacio commented, “It was tough, it was breathtaking. In the first race, we finished fifth after getting a penalty, but we recovered well. In the second race, we had good speed and scored enough points to keep the other boats behind us.”
Lisa Vucetti added, “We’re feeling so many emotions. In the last race, we weren’t even sure if we had won because we had the same points as the Israeli team. It’s a wonderful feeling.”
The silver medallists at the Junior World Championships are Israel’s Roy Levy and Ariel Gral, while the bronze medals were won by France’s Lomane Valade and Julien Bunel. The Medal Series belonged to Norway’s Julia Jacobsen and Victor Loof, who finished third and first in the two final races, climbing to fourth place in the overall standings.
In the U21 category, Ukraine’s duo, Sviatoslav Madonich and Yelyzaveta Vasylenko, secured second place, while third place went to Israel’s Tehila Sidis and Amitai Levkovitz.
With the Junior World Championships now complete, the sailors have little time to celebrate. After three days of rest, the entire junior fleet will travel to Nida, Lithuania, where the next big challenge awaits – the 2026 European Championships. Following an intense week of racing and a thrilling Medal Series, the sailors will now shift their focus to another major title, promising another exciting chapter in the junior sailing season.
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