Lara Dallman-Weiss: From the lakes of Minnesota to Marseille Marina

The American will compete at her second Olympics this summer having made her debut in Tokyo, and has teamed up with Stu McNay for a tilt at gold in the 470 class.

While many athletes at the Games have known nothing but elite sport, Dallman-Weiss will arrive in Marseille having racked up plenty of life experience before fulfilling her full Olympic dream.

QUALIFIED ☑️

Lara Dallman-Weiss and Stuart McNay have punched their tickets to their fifth and second Olympic Games! #MTUSA pic.twitter.com/4M0guh2BK7

— Team USA (@TeamUSA) March 4, 2024

Here is how she got there:

A tender curiosity

For F. Scott Fitzgerald, White Bear Lake in Minnesota was the setting of many summers; for Dallman-Weiss, it was where her love of sailing was fostered.

The 35-year-old cut her teeth in boats with her father John, while also trying her hand at myriad other sports to the point she almost accepted a collegiate running contract.

Dallman-Weiss opted to pursue sailing instead at Eckerd College in Florida, where her love of being on the water was truly ignited.

“My earliest memories are with my dad, he had his boat, and we would race together,” she said. “I don’t remember much about the sailing; I just remember spending time with him.

 

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“My parents put me in sailing class and I did not like sailing alone. They put other people in the boat with me and I had the best time, I could spend hours and hours on the water.

“I am a huge proponent of not specialising in one sport when you’re young. I played basketball, I played soccer, I danced, I was a big runner; I grew up in Minnesota and all the lakes freeze in the winter, so you find other things to do.

“I went to college and that’s when I really focussed all my energy on sailing, getting to know the sport. I realised that sailing lets you travel really far, you meet people, you learn so much about life and I just wanted more of that.”

All these things that I’ve done

Yet having pursued her love of sailing, it would be another decade until her Olympic dream would be realised.

Dallman-Weiss remained in the sailing world, instead trying her hand at anything and everything in between including stints as a drone pilot, photographer, and even taking a judges course.

All the while, her hopes of being the main event remained alive.

“I kind of took the backwards route to getting into Olympic sailing,” she added. “I did a lot of living life before my Olympic dream played out.

“It helps me appreciate it and just enjoy each day. There were times I was flying the drone, which I absolutely loved, but I wanted to be sailing.

“There are a lot of people complaining all the time about the weather or their back hurts but when I was doing a lot of the media stuff I would think ‘you guys are so lucky, just look what we get to do’.

“I have that perspective when I am racing.”

Olympic dream burning

Dallman-Weiss’ Olympic dream continued to burn well into adulthood, but it was one that was first kindled as a child.

A childhood filled with sport and female athletes as heroes meant hopes of one day competing would never go away.

She said: “The Olympics just caught my heart and my attention from a young age.

“When I saw different track athletes and basketball players, I just wanted to be like them but I wasn’t good enough in either of those sports to go to the Olympics so thought I had to make it happen in sailing.

“I give my mum all the credit. She was really good at putting women in front of me and saying you can do this too. She would get movies or books to show me these athletes, that’s where it was born.

“Flo-Jo [Florence Griffith Joyner] was one of my favourites and a lot of the early WNBA players, I just loved watching them.”

 

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Reaching Tokyo

Dallman-Weiss’ dream would come true, if perhaps in unexpected fashion.

The Minnesotan came together with partner Nikki Barnes in 2018 but looked unlikely to qualify for Tokyo 2020 until the Games were pushed back a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Although it was not the dream result, a 12th-place finish with no crowds, it was a dream realised and one Dallman-Weiss would immediately pursue again.

“The last day of the Olympics, I just knew in my heart I was going to go for another one. I felt like I had unfinished business,” she said.

“I found myself a little lost, I was starting to do the women’s Americas Cup but still had the Olympic dream burning.

“It was actually my best friend who said I should call Stu. I called him and right away he was super interested. Very early on we qualified for the Olympics, it was a natural team, and two years later here we are.”

 

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Pursuit of Paris

Dallman-Weiss is now back for a second Games, replete with all the knowledge that comes with one Olympic cycle of experience.

The 35-year-old will also have the support of a horde of family and friends in Marseille this summer. The presence of her dad, John, will be extra special after he successfully battled lymphoma last year.

It all adds up to what she hopes will be a tilt at a place on the podium, itself another dream waiting to be realised.

“He fought a huge battle, both him and my mom, so for them to be here and experience it and to have them here in person, to have him healthy now, is so special,” said Dallman-Weiss.

“I have got quite the crew coming. Nobody could be in Tokyo. The Olympic spirit is so real, it is such an amazing thing and I want everyone to experience it.

“I think about winning gold every day. Some people have a feeling inside of them and I do. It’s just something I want more than anything else in life.

“The whole family behind you who worked so hard to make this happen, there’s nothing I want more in life.”