Noah’s arc of improvement

Having earned his spot at the Last Chance Regatta he can now focus on the final run-in to Paris 2024.

“It’s good to know that I’m going at last. I didn’t perform at the other Olympic qualifier events, I didn’t deserve the spot but I’ve improved a lot since then. I’ve improved my speed, my risk management and my athleticism, I’ve got a lot fitter in the past few months,” says the 22-year-old from Clearwater, Florida, who believes there is more to come during the final run-in to Paris.

“I’m still nowhere near my peak, so I think by the Games comes around I’ll be stronger than I am now.”

Lyons draws his confidence from the strong team around him.

“My coach Juanma [Juan Manuel Moreno Vega] is my main guy. He’s my sailing coach, my mental coach, everything. Also US Sailing’s women’s coach for iQFOiL Pedro Pascual, he’s a two-time Olympian himself, he’s going to be really key in the Games preparation.

“And then there’s Kiran [Badloe, Dutch winner of the windsurfing gold medal at Tokyo 2020]. I’ll be working with him to get as much Olympic advice from him as possible and to help me with the mental aspects of the Games.”

The age-old question of how to approach the biggest event of your life, it’s one that every first-time Olympian has to grapple with.

“Pedro says you should try and treat it like every other regatta, but the simple fact is it’s not like every other regatta. So you just have to accept all the other stuff that comes with the Games, and deal with it was well as you can, all the media, or people blowing up your Instagram. At the end of the day you just have to go out and sail.”

Having secured a degree in microbiology Lyons is no stranger to the hard work and attention to detail required for Olympic campaigning.

“Majoring in microbiology and then in infection control, it was a tough degree to get and I had to work really hard to get it. Taking that work ethic from school into sport has definitely helped, as well as an appreciation for the more specific details of the sport too.”

Lyons had already embarked on his degree before COVID struck the world.

“It hit right in the middle of my degree and it was super relevant to what I was studying,” he says.

“It could couldn’t get more relevant than that. It definitely made me sit up and pay attention in some of the lectures. Sometimes we had some entire modules based on COVID, so even if it wasn’t the best thing for the world, it was extremely interesting to learn about at the time.”

For the time being, however, any future career in microbiology has been put on the back burner as Lyons looks to make the most of his twenties on the water.

“If I can make a living out of being on the water, that’s my goal,” says Lyons. “Whatever happens at this year’s Games I’ll be aiming for Los Angeles 2028. I mean, it’s a home Games, right?”

Sailing has been in Lyons’ blood for a long time. He came through conventional boat classes like the 420 and then spent some time racing the 49er skiff before getting hooked on the speed of windsurf foiling. It was a Finn sailor who inspired him to get on the Olympic trail.

“Zach Railey, he did two Olympic campaigns and won the Finn silver medal in 2008, it was a dinner with him Zach convinced me to start my campaign in the first place. These days Zach’s married, he’s got kids, a career, but he told me ‘I would drop everything to be back in your position right now.’

“I hadn’t really taken sailing that seriously up to that point but he pointed out the opportunity and convinced me to go for it. And it really is the best job in the world, to be doing what I’m doing now, right? I am just so stoked to be going to these Games.”