Seventeen more nations earn Paris 2024 Olympic Games sailing places
Twenty-five more places in the sailing competition at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games were sealed at the recent Pan American Games Santiago 2023 and 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 European Championships in Vilamoura, Portugal.
In Chile, places were on offer to North American and South American nations, divided equally with 11 per continent. While in Portugal, each event carried one qualification place for European countries.
Men’s Windsurfing – iQFOiL
Ethan Westera of Aruba finished second overall in the Men’s Windsurfing event to confirm qualification for his country, while Francisco Birkner of Argentina, finishing fourth overall, claimed a place at Paris 2024 for his country.
Men’s Kite – Formula Kite
The Olympic qualification places in the Men’s Kite went to Antigua and Barbuda, and Colombia courtesy of Tiger Tyson and Victor Lopez Bolaños respectively.
Tyson finished second overall, behind the dominant Bruno Chaves Costa Lobo Ferreira from Brazil who notched 16 wins from 17 races. Bolaños finished sixth.
Men’s Dinghy – ILCA 7
Four places were confirmed in the ILCA 7 event at the Pan American Games, with Chilean sailor Clemente Lacámara Segeul taking silver at his home sailing club and qualifying his nation for the Olympic Games. Juan Ignacio Maegli of Guatemala finished third to seal qualification alongside Pedro Luis Fernández Gamboa of Puerto Rico in sixth and Just van Aanholt of Aruba in seventh.
Men’s Skiff – 49er
The Uruguayan team of Hernán Umpierre Odini and Fernando Diz Becerra finished in second place behind the team of Ian Barrows and Hans Henken from the USA to seal the qualification spot from South America. Canadians William Jones and Justin Barnes finished a close third to take the North American place.
The Irish team of Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove secured Olympic qualification with an eighth place finish in the European Championships, making them the second boat from Ireland confirmed at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Women’s Windsurfing – iQFOiL
The two Women’s Windsurfing places went to Dominique Stater of the United States who finished second overall, just behind Mariana Aguilar Chavez Peon of Mexico, and Chiara Ferretti of Argentina who finished fourth overall.
Women’s Kite – Formula Kite
The Women’s Kite event was won by American Daniela Moroz who had previously confirmed the United States place at the Olympic Games at the 2023 Allianz Sailing World Championships. Olympic places therefore went to Argentina after Catalina Turienzo’s second place finish, and Canada as Emily Bugeja finished sixth.
Women’s Dinghy – ILCA 6
Four places were up for grabs in the Women’s Dinghy event. Dolores Moreira Fraschini of Uruguay finished fourth overall to qualify her nation for the Olympic Games just ahead of Florencia Chiarella Salas of Peru and Elena Oetling Ramirez of Mexico. Adriana Penrudocke of Bermuda finished tenth overall and claimed the final spot for her country.
Women’s Skiff – 49erFX
The top two in the Women’s Skiff sealed qualification after a very close race where the top three places were separated by just four points.
Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze of Brazil took gold and the first qualification place, just ahead of Canadians Alexandra Ten Hove and Mariah Millen.
The European Championships place went to Italy thanks to Jana Germani and Giorgia Bertuzzi after they finished second behind the Norwegian pair of Helene Naess and Marie Ronningen. Norway had already claimed a place at Paris 2024 with a strong performance at the Sailing World Championships, The Hague.
Mixed Multihull – Nacra 17
Despite missing out on gold to the imperious Argentine duo of Mateo Majdalani and Eugenia Bosco of Argentina who notched 12 first place finishes out of 13 races, the American pair of Sarah Newberry-Moore and David Liebenberg sealed Olympic qualification with a well-earned second place. The Brazilian team of Samuel Reis Albrecht and Gabriela Nicolino De Sa took third in a close battle and confirmed Brazil’s place in the Nacra 17 fleet at the Olympics.
As Great Britain and Italy had already secured qualification, the Olympic place in Portugal went to Austria after a fourth–placed finish for Lukas Haberl and Tanja Frank. This achievement means that Frank has the chance to represent her country at a third Olympic Games.
For more information on qualifying for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games click here.