Marta Maggetti belongs to the generation of sailors who have taken Olympic windsurfing to a new level. She made history at Paris 2024 by winning gold in the iQFOiL class and continues to build her career in places where wind and ocean conditions allow her to keep pushing her performance — such as the Canary Islands.
Maggetti’s story begins at sea. Born in Cagliari in 1996, on the Italian island of Sardinia, she grew up surrounded by wind and saltwater. “My first contact with the sea came very early,” Maggetti explains. “My father used to take me into the water, among the waves, when I was three or four years old.”
She started windsurfing at eight and was already competing by the age of eleven. Those early days at sea marked the beginning of a career that would take her to the very top of Olympic windsurfing. The arrival of iQFOiL — a new discipline in which boards lift above the water thanks to a foil, where speed, control and wind reading are decisive — transformed the sport’s Olympic landscape.
Maggetti embraced the new class with a clear goal in mind, and at Paris 2024 she became Olympic champion. “I love foiling because it’s all about speed and adrenaline,” she explains. “What I enjoy most is keeping control when there is strong wind and big waves.”
When the environment makes the difference
The Italian sailor first arrived in the Canary Islands in 2021, shortly after the Tokyo Olympic Games. “It was love at first sight,” she recalls. “These islands are very similar to mine, Sardinia, and I immediately felt at home.” Since then, she has trained regularly in the archipelago, particularly in Lanzarote at Marina Rubicón.
For a high-level sailor, training depends not only on hours spent on the water but also on the quality of the conditions. That is why many international athletes include the Canary Islands in their training calendars, especially during the winter months.
Maggetti explains it clearly: “I think the Canary Islands are the best place to train. Here we can meet other international athletes we later compete against, and it’s important to compare our level, because we don’t have that many major competitions each year.”
In a discipline like Olympic windsurfing, where every regatta can present completely different scenarios, training in a demanding environment makes a real difference. The wind shifts constantly, the state of the ocean evolves and every day on the water presents a new challenge.
“In winter it’s very important to accumulate many hours on the water. In the Canary Islands we can train a lot and prepare for all kinds of conditions, and that is key,” says the Olympic champion. As Maggetti emphasises, “if you can sail well in the Canary Islands, you can sail well anywhere in the world.”
Wind, freedom and energy
Maggetti’s connection with the Canary Islands goes beyond training. Between sessions, she also finds time to enjoy the surroundings. “We can focus on training but also enjoy the islands,” she explains. “The atmosphere is very friendly. You escape from big cities, and mentally that is very important for us.”
The stable climate, long daylight hours and variety of landscapes make the archipelago an ideal combination of high-performance sport and relaxation.
When she is not on the foil, Maggetti enjoys exploring the islands with her camera or surfing at some of her favourite spots, such as Famara, El Golfo or Costa Teguise in Lanzarote, or El Médano in Tenerife.
But for an Olympic champion, training never stops. And in the Canary Islands — which the Italian describes as “wind, freedom and energy” — Marta continues doing what she has loved since childhood: sailing among the waves, now with the determination to keep building the path that leads to victory.
