Wednesday, January 8: Talented young Italian aquabike racer Nicole Cadei has been nominated as the 2024 UIM Junior Driver of the Year by the sport’s governing body, the Union Internationale Motonautique (UIM).

The 16-year-old daughter of Michele Cadei competed in both the UIM-ABP Aquabike World and European Continental Championships in 2024 in the Runabout GP4 Ladies category.

Two second-place finishes in the opening two Motos at the Regione Sardegna Grand Prix of Italy and fourth overall in Moto 3 netted the Italian third in the points’ standings in the World Championship behind French racer Cyrielle Bramm and Estonia’s Annemarie Randla.

The Bergamo-based student only made her debut in the sport in her native Italy in 2020, but she competed in the three Grand Prix in Hungary, France and Portugal that constituted last year’s European Continental Championship and scored points in all nine Motos.

Second place in Moto 1 in Portugal behind eventual champion Bramm was her best individual heat result and she finished the European season in fourth place, just eight points behind the 2023 European Champion Nikola Dryjakova.