Enzo Balanger is back on the Moth circuit's biggest stage, this time trying to hang on to what he won.
A year ago on Lake Garda, the Frenchman became the first sailor from his country to be crowned Moth World Champion. Now he's in Perth, Australia, from 6 November, looking to defend that title against a fleet full of sailors keen to take it off him.
Balanger beat 137 competitors from 25 nations on Lake Garda, a fleet that included Olympic champions and names familiar from the America's Cup and SailGP. He won five of the ten races and finished 12 points clear of Australia's Tom Slingsby, no small margin against one of the most decorated sailors in the sport.
He hasn't slowed down since. In L'Escala, Spain, last June, Balanger added the European Championship to his CV, winning eight of eleven races, the kind of dominant form that puts a sailor among the favourites before a regatta even starts.
Perth brings a different test. Mounts Bay Sailing Club on the Swan River is hosting this year's championship, and the Moth itself remains one of the most demanding boats in the sport, a single-handed foiling dinghy that lifts clear of the water and can touch speeds near 35 knots.
The fleet will be smaller than last year's, but Balanger reckons that won't make things easier. He expects the top 10 to 15 sailors to be tightly matched, with boat handling, wind reading and technical precision deciding the podium. Strong winds are forecast for the regatta, adding another variable, and on a boat under this much load, competitors will have to weigh speed against the risk of breaking gear.
"I'm coming into this championship in a really positive frame of mind," Balanger said. "My preparation has gone well, despite a few challenges and some equipment breakages, which are part of sailing these boats. Everything is now fixed and I'm really happy with how I've been performing on the water. Everything is looking good for a great regatta!"
"It looks like we're going to have some strong winds, and I can't wait to get racing. The main challenge will be finding the right balance between performance and risk: pushing the boat hard to go fast without breaking anything. With such a competitive fleet at the top of the Moth class, it will all come down to the smallest details."
At 26, Balanger is part of a new wave of French sailors making inroads on the international foiling scene. He came up through the K-Challenge Akademy, a programme built to find and develop young and female sailing talent, and winning the 2025 world title opened doors into two major campaigns, DS Automobiles SailGP Team France and La Roche-Posay Racing Team, France's challenger for the 38th America's Cup.
He sailed the Youth America's Cup in Barcelona back in 2024. Since then he's stepped onto bigger, faster machinery, making his SailGP Grand Prix debut aboard the F50 in New York in May 2026, and more recently sailing La Roche-Posay Racing Team's AC40 and AC75.
He's had less time in the Moth than during his 2025 title campaign. But time spent on those larger foiling boats has sharpened his technical understanding in ways that should carry over, even if the preparation has looked different this time around.
Whether that trade-off pays off will become clear on the Swan River. Balanger heads into Perth chasing a second straight world title, another milestone for French foiling, and a chance to prove that a season among SailGP and America's Cup fleets has only sharpened his edge in the boat where it all started.
