Six sailing athletes selected for Team Canada ahead of Paris Olympics
Canada is looking for its first sailing medal in 20 years.
Six sailing athletes were selected to represent Team Canada at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics on Friday.
Sarah Douglas headlines the group, named to her second Olympic team in the ILCA 6 event, and looking to improve on her sixth place at Tokyo 2020 – the best ever Olympic result for a Canadian woman in an individual sailing event. Since competing in Tokyo, Douglas won a gold medal at the Princess Sofia Trophy in April 2022 — her first podium appearance at a World Sailing regatta, and won a silver medal at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games.
Last year, at an French Olympic Week event in Hyères, France, Douglas won the gold medal, beating Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Anne-Marie Rindom among others.
“It’s been no secret what my goal for Paris is: I’m hunting down that podium!” said Douglas in a press release. “Marseille can bring a range of conditions but what I know for sure is that it will be hot. We will be bringing our cooling strategies back from the last Olympics.
“I’m expecting my second Games to be a completely different experience than Tokyo with no restrictions, ability to leave the village and friends and family present. I plan on taking in all that Paris has to offer along with attending the closing ceremony.”
Will Jones is also set to make his second Olympic appearance, in the 49er event alongside Olympic debutant Justin Barnes. Jones, competing with the since-retired Evan DePaul, finished 19th in Tokyo, before teaming up with Barnes in 2022. The duo earned a bronze medal and a Paris 2024 quota spot for Canada at the 2023 Pan Am Games, and officially earned the spot on the team by winning a pair of Canadian selection regattas.
Nova Scotian sisters Antonia and Georgia Lewin-LaFrance will make their Olympic debuts at Paris 2024 in the 49er FX event. The pair placed fourth at the Princess Sofia Trophy Regatta last April, and finished 13th at the 2023 Sailing World Championships in The Hague, Netherlands.
“We are so excited to qualify for our first Olympic Games,” said the Lewin-LaFrance sisters in a press release. “It’s crazy to think that Paris 2024 is just over a month away. We can’t really describe this feeling, but hunger, nerves, and excitement are all in the mix. Despite the hype, we find ourselves entirely focused on the sailing when we’re training in Marseille.
“We’re trying to think of it as any other performance regatta. Thank you to everyone who has ever contributed to our campaign. Go Canada!”
Emily Bugeja will make her Olympic debut at Paris 2024 as well, in the women’s kiteboarding event, which makes its first Olympic appearance at Paris 2024. Bugeja finished sixth in the event at the Santiago 2023 Pan Am Games, earning Canada an Olympic quota spot as the top-ranked women’s kite athlete from North America and the Caribbean who had not yet qualified for Paris.
Bugeja booked her ticket to Paris by finishing first in the Canadian selection ranking, which included results from the 2024 Formula Kite World Championships and 2024 Princess Sofia Trophy regatta.
Sailing will take place from July 28 to August 8 at the Marseille Marina.
Canadian sailing athletes have won nine Olympic medals since the sport made its debut at Paris 1900, with the most recent being a silver in the Star class by Ross MacDonald and Mike Wolfs at Athens 2004. As the popularity of certain types and models of boats changed, the Olympic program has varied.
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