The light smile, the joy painted on the face, the arms in the air, the victory celebrated, but as just another stage of a journey that never ends, along a route bathed in the blue of the sea and the gold around the neck: it is a simple and stunning snapshot that has now been repeated relentlessly for four years. It is the one that contains the stories of the thirty-two-year-old engineer Ruggero Titta and the thirty-six-year-old graduate in “Islamic Studies”, Caterina Banti. Three years ago they won gold at the Tokyo Olympics, giving Italy an Olympic success that had been missing in Italian sailing for twenty-one years (Sensini in Sydney 2000), a victory which would then be followed by a phenomenal double (2022 and 2023) at World Cup.
A very close-knit couple born almost by chance seven years ago when both were left without their usual racing companion, a couple renamed “Tittabanti” who push and sail on a five-metre catamaran and without on-board instruments and who in the specialty “Nacra 17 ” flies over the waters of the sea without practically ever finding rivals: it happened again this time, at the World Championships held in La Grande Motte, between Montepellier and Nimes, one hundred and fifty kilometers from the waters of Marseille where, in two months, the blue team will attack to the Olympic encore.
Even those of Coni president Gianni Malagò, who two weeks ago had said, speaking of Italy’s golden prospects at the Paris Games, were hit by the favors of the forecast. «I know they get angry, but the strongest athletes we have are the two sailors Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti. It is no coincidence that Nielsen also nominated them for the gold they already won in Tokyo. They are very strong and are playing for the victory in ten races, you can get one wrong and discard it according to the rules. And the last one, the medal race, is worth double. They are almost armored.”
The third world title, the fourth of his career, came by finishing ahead of the English pair of Gimson and Burnet, a pair who had also finished behind the Italians at the Tokyo Olympics. A regatta without history in France, which ended with a twenty point gap after sixteen regattas.
«We are very happy with this victory, it is an important result and shows how the work we have done is paying off, but we still have a lot to do because our goal is, and remains, the Olympics, in Marseille we want to be ready», this the comment by Caterina Banti who together with Ruggero Tita has been sailing as a couple since 2017, when they both found themselves separated from their racing partner. In Rio 2016, Tita competed in the 49er, finishing fourteenth paired with bowman Pietro Zucchetti, while bowman Banti lost her helmsman, Lorenzo Bressani. Federvela has never made a happier choice as she is now banking on the pair for a historic double of Olympic gold. And for Ruggero Tita the summer will certainly not end in Marseille. Immediately afterwards he will be in Barcelona, aboard Luna Rossa engaged in the thirty-seventh edition of the America’s Cup.
