Manowiecki leads tight WingFoil World Cup leaderboard in Türkiye
Kamil Manowiecki grabbed the early lead in Urla, but Sean Herbert and Maddalena Spanu kept the World Cup tables tight after the opening races.
Kamil Manowiecki opened the WingFoil Racing World Cup Türkiye with a narrow lead, but the first-day scoreboard in Urla already looked fragile. After four races and one discard in the men’s fleet, the Polish rider sat first on net 5.0, with Sean Herbert on 6.0, Julien Rattotti on 11.0 and Alessandro José Tomasi and Nicolò Spanu level on 12.0. Reigning world champion Mathis Ghio, the four-time series winner, was only one point farther back on 12.0, a margin small enough to turn every start and every jibe into a separator.
Urla matters because the stop is not just another points race. The event runs May 19-23 at Urla Pro Sailing Academy in Urla, Izmir, with €10,000 in prize money and 300 World Ranking points at stake, and the series has positioned it as a World Sailing Special Event that crowns the annual Open WingFoil Racing World Champion. It is also being used as a dress rehearsal for the 2026 Formula Wing World Championships in Istanbul from August 10-15, which adds pressure to the riders using this week to sharpen equipment and tactics.
That pressure showed up in the men’s table beyond the top five. Francesco Cappuzzo stood seventh on 19.0, Thomas Proust eighth on 22.0, Freddie Strawson ninth on 24.0 and Kosta Gladiadis tenth on 25.0. In a compact series this early, one slip is expensive, and the gap from Manowiecki to the chasers remains small enough that a single bad race could redraw the order quickly.
The women’s fleet was just as tight after three races. Maddalena Spanu led on net 2.0, Vaina Picot sat second on 3.0, Aimilia Kosti held third on 6.0 and Yana Li was fourth on 7.0. Charlotte Baruzzi and Iset Segura Santaeulària stayed in striking distance, leaving the race for the podium open and vulnerable to one clean shift in breeze or one poor lane choice.
The early results fit the storyline that followed the fleet into Türkiye. Manowiecki arrived looking to rebound from a frustrating earlier regatta in Italy, while Ghio was under pressure after an uncharacteristic 13th in Naples. Cappuzzo, meanwhile, said Urla had treated him well before and that the venue was a good place to test new gear with Gong. With Fenerbahçe sports club and Pro Sailing Academy Urla running the event together, the next races will decide whether these first-day margins harden into control or melt back into a bunched fight for the World Cup lead.
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