Athlete Olympic Class IQFoil
Federico Pilloni
Federico Alan Pilloni was born in Cagliari in 2006, and despite his young age has already enjoyed significant national and international success with the iQFOiL, which has been selected as an Olympic class starting from the 2024 Games in Paris.
He claimed victory in 2022 in the Under 19 category at the iQFOiL Youth & Junior International Games in Campione sul Garda, Italy, and placed third in the Youth & Junior World Championship in Silvaplana, Switzerland. At national level, he won the Under 19 category in 2022 at the Italian Sailing Federation Championship for single-handed classes, on the iQFoiL.
Federico, known as Freddy on the race courses and to his friends, discovered windsurfing at the age of just 9, during a summer camp at the renowned Poetto beach in Cagliari, a spot that is still among his favourites. Like all young windsurfers, he started out on the Techno 293, and his talent was immediately notable. At just 12 years old, in 2018, he came second in the Under-13 category in the Coppa Italia and won the national leg of the Slalom Cup & Long Distance on home waters. In 2019 he won the Italian Sailing Federation Youth Championships, the Italian Slalom Foil Championship and the Coppa Italia Techno 293 Under-15. He took the second step on the podium at the Techno 293 Under-15 World Championship in Cadiz, Spain.
In 2020 he topped the Under-15 and Under-17 rankings at the 16th Med Cup Windsurf in Marseille, France, and won the Italian Youth Championships and the Techno 293 International Windsurfing Event at Torbole, Lake Garda.
The 2021 season marked Pilloni's progression from a promising young talent to a true champion: again on the Techno board, he took the win at the Youth World Championships in Oman, after having already claimed victory in the Under 17 category at the World Championships in Torbole and the European Championships in Tallinn, Estonia. At the national level he won his third Italian Championship and triumphed in the Coppa Italia, also for the third time. In the meantime he began competing in the iQFOiL Olympic class in view of Olympic qualification, immediately obtaining an excellent second place at the iQFOiL Youth Under 17 World Championship in Campione sul Garda, Italy.
In 2023 he began racing as an athlete for the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda within the Young Azzurra programme, and in July of that year he was crowned iQFOiL Youth European Champion.