| Catalina Turienzo | |
| Birth Date: | May 29, 2006 |
| Birth Place: | Bahía Blanca |
| Nationality: | Argentina |
(María) Catalina "Cata" Turienzo (born May 29, 2006) is an Argentine kitesurfer who took silver at the 2023 Pan American Games and a place in the 2024 Olympic Games. She was the 2024 Formula Kite Youth World Champion.
Turienzo was born in the coastal city of Bahía Blanca in 2006. Her parents were Georgina Mazzarini and Juan Cruz Turienzo and she was their only girl. Her father was from Montehermoso which is on the coast to the east of Bahia Blanca and that is, she says, her spiritual birthplace.[1]
She was just outside the medals when she was fourth in the 2023 World Youth Competition. The competition was held in the sea near Scheveningen, in the Netherlands.[1]
Daniela Moroz won the Formula Kite gold medal at the 2023 Pan American Games on 3 November 2023 beating Turienzo at Algarrobo in Chile. The Brazilian surfer Maria do Socorro Reis was third.[1] In the next month she was competing in the 2023 Youth Sailing World Championships where she was second to Derin Atakan from Turkey. The Israeli Mika Kafri was third.[2]
The places to join the first Olympic Formula Foil competition at the 2024 Olympics were highly valued. The "last chance" contest (French Olympic Week) was held in Hyères in April 2024 when the last five Olympic places were the prizes for kitefoilers. She competed, but by this time the chosen continental competitors already included Fawn Jantawan from Thailand, the Canadian Emily Claire Bugeja, Julie Paturau from Mauritius, New Zealander Justina Kitchen, Gisela Pulido and Turienzo from South America.[3]
In July 2024 she won the Formula Kite Youth World Championship in the southern Italian town of Gizzeria. The four surfers in the women's final were her, the French woman Lysa Caval, Derin Atakan from Turkey and the Polish sailor Magdalena Woyciechowska. They finished in that order[4]