Italian triumph

In the full glare of the world’s media spotlight, in a race sandwiched between the opening two races of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup Match, Italy’s Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli beat Britain’s Athena Pathway to win the inaugural Puig Women’s America’s Cup after an impressive demonstration of cool, calm, and collected match-racing of the highest order.

This was a titanic tussle between the two outstanding competitors to emerge from a super-competitive Qualification and Semi-Final series that signalled and signposted the very future of the America’s Cup.

The Final was set to be a classic with Athena Pathway coming in with momentum whilst Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli knew that they had inherent speed if they could keep their nerve and deliver when it mattered.