from North Beach
"It's 2024 and that means the Summer Olympics is coming up in just a few months. The sailing portion of the Games will be in Marseilles and our US windsurfers (in the iQ Foil Class) are competing in the Olympic Trials in Miami starting January 5. You can see who's registered and follow along here. The iQ women have already secured a spot at the Olympics for the US, but the men will still have to earn a spot at the Olympics after the US Trials. We have a solid contingent of competitors at the Trials and we are so excited for all of them!"
—
after two days
It's absolutely tight in men's IQ. Dominique Stater is firming her grip. I had not realized with her result in the Pan Ams, that the US secured a women's spot, too.
"Noah Lyons closed his gap to Geronimo Nores and moved from 2nd to 1st, now leading Trials in the Men’s iQFOiL fleet on a tiebreaker. In the Women’s iQFOiL fleet, Dominique Stater kept her momentum with 10 of 11 first or second place finishes in every race of Trials so far. "
Men's kite is saucy, too.
"In the Men’s Formula Kite fleet, Markus Edegran continued his consistent upward trend and took over the first place standing. This is the third lead change in three days for the kites, keeping fans on their toes as we move towards the halfway mark."
https://www.ussailing.org/news/january-us-olympic-team-trials-2024/
FoilDodo
Getting frisky there today. Imagine foiling with a 9.5 with gusts to 38
ftfy
- but let's be real, it's the height of a 11.0 Formula sail (554cm) with just a shorter boom (234cm). They do have adjustable downhauls. and the lads at the top of the ladder have some amazing skills. I'd be as or more impressed with the women being out in 8.0s since they are giving up probably 50 lbs. I'd think getting the RC boats out into the ocean (the venue is offshore) would be a big challenge, too.
One thing in their favor is going upwind and very deep downwind kills a ton of power. I find sometimes just between races to be quite tiring in big conditions and it's easier when I'm going. Trying to hear and time a starting sequence would be chaos.
And for anyone asking - the kit was intended to be used up to 35 kts. https://iqfoil.star-board.com/equipment/iqfoil-class/
Dang, this is going to be a nail biter. Bryn Muller from Clearwater is mounting a charge on Dominique the last couple of days and pulled off some bullets. She's a bit bigger, afaik, and the conditions may be suiting her. Noah and Geronimo and trading 1s and 2s mostly. One of Gerinomo's throwouts is a third.
It's down to a Clearwater vs. Miami match now. The third place sailors in both fleets aren't sailing poorly, just having trouble cracking the top two consistently. I think they must all be tired of looking at each at this point especially with so much on the line. The 470 fleet is definitely a three horse race. Men's skiff is almost a dead heat.
Oops, I was wrong about them being offshore - they stayed in Biscayne Bay today. Bryn Muller really rose to the conditions - pranged going downwind and still won today.
"Winds built to the 30s overnight and presented Race Committee with a challenge for the halfway point at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Sailing. Race officials chose to sail the Mixed 470s and iQFOiL fleets in Biscayne Bay for more protection and kept the 49ers and Men’s iQFOiLs ashore for an early reserve day. 470s and iQFOiLs will take their reserve day as scheduled tomorrow and 49ers and Kites will sail day five.
With two dropped scores now in play, Noah Lyons pulled ahead of Geronimo Nores by one point to solidify his lead in the Men’s iQFOiL fleet after today’s three races. The two were tied on day three with Lyons winning the tiebreaker. The fleet will take a rest day tomorrow to come back swinging on Thursday.
In the Women’s iQFOiL Bryn Muller is making up ground, closing the gap between her and current leader Dominique Stater. Muller had a wipeout while making her way downwind in the second race of the day, was passed by Stater and Anna Weis, and still came back to win the race.
The battle for the top remains tight in the 470 class. Regatta leaders Stu McNay and Lara Dallman-Weiss held onto their lead by two points. Carmen Cowles and David Hughes are in hot pursuit, closing their gap to first by two points up from four yesterday. Louisa Nordstrom and Trevor Bornarth are one point behind Cowles / Hughes and remain tightly in the mix as the week continues. "
aeroegnr
The current leader in kites (hope we don't give him the SI cover curse). Video from a few years back. He sailed for the Naval Academy in college
I did not realize that the US men had not already qualified for the Olympic IQFoil spot despite their good placings in international competition.. Only 16 nations have so far. Dominique Stater has qualified the women. On the kite side, again the women are already in but the men aren't yet. Countries that have qualified so far for each discipline. https://paris2024.sailing.org/qualification-2/whos-qualified/
Todays results
"Dominique Stater and Bryn Muller traded first and second place finishes throughout the day, with Stater remaining on top of the women’s iQFOiL fleet by three points.
The 49er and Women’s iQFOiL are the two classes at these Olympic Trials that have already achieved country qualification for the US and secured the first of the two-part process for athletes to get to Paris 2024*– so the winner of each respective fleet will punch their ticket to Paris on Saturday.
In the Men’s iQFOiL fleet, Geronimo Nores and Noah Lyons moved from a point of separation to yet another tie for the second time this week. Nores is currently winning the tiebreaker and sits in first overall heading into the final two days of Trials. "
Noah drilled some bullets today and gave himself some breathing room. It's still very tight and they are down to throwing out seconds and thirds as long as they aren't over early, etc. Dominique also widened her lead. I wonder if winds were lighter today? Seems as though they've been running a lot of slalom as the number of races far outpaces the other fleets especially dinghies. IQFoil men have run 23 races and the women 22 this week. The 470s have only gotten in 12. The faster 49ers have gotten in 18.
Markus is pulling away, too, in kites. fwiw, Danielle Moroz already qualified last summer
"Daniela Moroz became the first U.S. sailor to make the 2024 Olympic team, and the first ever to qualify in the new Olympic event of formula kite.
Update:
"Women’s iQFOiL – Dominique Stater qualified the USA for Paris 2024 in the Women’s iQFOiL in November with her silver medal at the Pan American Games and is now in contention for the Team USA spot herself. Stater is currently at 26 points, followed by Bryn Muller in second with 35 points, and Anna Weis in third with 55 points. The fleet of five Women’s iQFOiL athletes will sail five races tomorrow to round out their regatta and decide the Team USA nomination. "
"Men’s iQFOiL – There was yet another lead change in the Men’s iQFOiL fleet today, with Noah Lyons breaking yesterday’s tie with Geronimo Nores and pulling into the lead by four points. Lyons excelled in today’s Slalom courses – selected by Race Committee because of the light wind – winning three of the four races sailed. After athlete selection is complete following the final four races tomorrow, the USA will still need to qualify as a country at the Last Chance Regatta, April 20-27. "
"Men’s Formula Kite – Markus Edegran remains on top of the Men’s Formula Kite class with 32 points, having held the lead for the majority of the event. Kai Calder is in second place with 40 points, trailed closely by Noah Runciman, in third place with 42 points. However, with four races left for the Kites tomorrow, there’s still time for the scoreboard to shuffle. For the men’s kiters, the next and final opportunity to qualify the USA for Paris 2024 is the Last Chance Regatta, April 20-27. "
Moroz, 22 years old and a six-time world champion, earned her spot by placing third in the Olympic test event in Marseille in July and then fifth at the world championships this month in the Netherlands."
Some pics from sail-world.com. Start here and go through the days: https://www.sail-world.com/news/270313/US-Olympic-Team-Trials-Sailing-Day-1
https://www.instagram.com/p/C16AqiTMuM5/
" After eight days of competition, US Sailing declared winners in five of the Olympic sailing disciplines at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Sailing. Having already secured country qualification in 2023, Women’s iQFOiL athlete Dominique Stater and 49er team Ian Barrows and Hans Henken are fully confirmed to represent Team USA at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Stu McNay and Lara Dallman-Weiss in the Mixed 470, Noah Lyons in the Men’s iQFOiL, and Markus Edegran in the Men’s Formula Kite completed the first of their two-part process to get to Marseille and will now work to qualify the USA for spots in their respective classes."
"In the Women’s iQFOiL, overall winner Dominique Stater (Miami, FL) built momentum over the course of the regatta, eventually pulling ahead to secure her win on points before the final two races. Ultimately, she won 14 of the 27 races sailed in the Women’s iQFOiL fleet.
“It was an awesome and exciting but also long and stressful week,” said Stater. “I had some great battles with the fleet and I’m very relieved that it’s over and that the path is cleared to Paris.”
“It was awesome to do the Trials at Miami Yacht Club because I used to come sail with the boys here on Techno 293s all those years ago,” Stater said, reminiscing about her home club and home waters. “I’d go out to Miramar across the bridge with the Nores brothers (runner up in the Men’s iQFOiL) and the Cramers, and I’ve known Florencia, Miami Yacht Club’s Youth Sailing Manager, all through childhood, so it was great to have her here"
"First and second place Men’s iQFOiL riders Noah Lyons (Clearwater, Fla.) and Geronimo Nores (Miami, Fla.) traded the lead up until the last day of racing. It all came down to the final race where Lyons was able to pull ahead, clinching first place overall by one point. Nores took second, while Alex Temko (Clearwater, Fla.) came third. With his win, Lyons will receive US Sailing’s nomination for Team USA and will now work to qualify the USA at the Last Chance Regatta in Hyères, France, April 20-27, as the second of his two-part path to Paris.
Markus Edegran (Stuart, Fla.) lead the Men’s Formula Kite class, finishing first with 35 points, having held the lead for the majority of the event. Kai Calder (Delray Beach, Fla.) ended in second place with 45 points, trailed closely by Noah Runciman (Houston, TX) in third place with 48 points. Edegran achieves individual athlete selection and will have one more chance to qualify the country at the Last Chance Regatta in Hyères, France, April 20-27."
https://www.ussailing.org/news/january-us-olympic-team-trials-2024/
Great performances by Dominique and the top IQFoil men. Gutted that only one passed to the next level. Statistically, it was pretty much a dead heat. This is the second selection process that Geronimo missed the top place by a nose.
FoilDodo