The incredible lineup in the U.S Olympic Sailing Team
On the way to the pinnacle of international sailing, the US Sailing Team has been preparing hard for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Normally, the year before the Games athletes would be relentlessly relocating, training and competing around the world for the last spots in the Olympic Games. However, with COVID-19 and travel restrictions, all international athletes have had less time to prepare despite being equally or even more excited about this year’s Games.
A general scope on the sailing olympic classes
13 sailors will represent the United States at the Olympic Games in July and August. They come from nine US states including California, Illinois, Florida, New York, Maryland, Minnesota, Rhode Island, the US Virgin Islands and Wisconsin.
Sailing events will be based on the island of Enoshima, 35 miles southwest of Tokyo. They will feature up to 350 athletes competing in 10 sailing classes. These are:
- RS:X - Windsurfer (Men/Women)
- Laser - One Person Dinghy (Men)
- Laser Radial - One Person Dinghy (Women)
- Finn - One Person Dinghy (Heavyweight) (Men)
- 470 - Two Person Dinghy (Men/Women)
- 49er - Skiff (Men)
- 49er FX - Skiff (Women)
- Nacra 17 Foiling - Mixed Multihull
The Tokyo 2020 U.S Olympic Sailing Team lineup, listed in order of date of selection) is as follows:
49erFX (Women’s Two-Person High Performance Skiff)
Stephanie Roble and Maggie Shea, from the Team Roble-Shea have been the american athletes on the 49erFX trail together since 2016, and together they have earned several medals at major events including the 2019 Pan American Games and the 2019 Hempel World Cup Series in Genoa. Moreover, they earned the bronze medal during the 49erFX World Championship in 2020. Both Roble and Shea await their olympic debuts in Tokyo this summer.
Nacra 17 (Mixed Two-Person Multihull)
Riley Gibbs and Anna Weis will be the U.S multihull pair competing in the 2020 summer olympics. They both have been winning international medals, as in the Pan American Games Champions in 2019 they earned the first place and also earned the bronze medal at the 2020 Oceania Championship.
The pair will also be debuting in the Olympics this year.