PARACAS,
PERU (August 6, 2019) – Day four of the Pan American Games Lima 2019
Sailing events delivered a day packed with racing. Thanks to a
southwesterly breeze that filled at about 1200 local time and built
throughout the day, each of the eleven classes were able to complete all
scheduled races. After today’s races, Team USA has several boats in
medal positions.
Day Three, U.S. Pan American Games Sailing Team Standings
- Mixed Nacra 17 – 1st, Gibbs/Weiss
- Mixed Snipe - 1st, Schiffman/Rodriguez
- Women’s Laser Radial - 2nd, Rose
- Men’s Laser - 2nd, Buckingham
- Women’s 49erFX - 2nd, Roble/Shea
- Open Kite - 3rd, Cyr
- Men’s RS:X - 3rd, Pascual
- Open Sunfish - 3rd, Blouin
- Mixed Lightning - 4th, Starck/Dieball/Jones
- Men’s 49er - 4th, Mollerus/MacDiarmid
- Men’s RS:X - 5th, Hall
Standout
U.S. sailors include Mixed Nacra 17 athletes, Riley Gibbs (Long Beach,
Calif.) and Anna Weis (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.). Gibbs and Weis jumped
into the gold medal position after finishing each of their races in
first-place, today. According to Weis, their success on the water is
thanks to the recent improvements she and Gibbs have made together,
“We’re improving every day as a team. Our speed and communication felt
really good today. I think little improvements like that are what has
made the difference in helping us do well.”
Their
performance is even more impressive when considering that just eight
weeks ago, it was possible that the pair would be unable to compete due
to injuries. “Recently, I had a bi-lateral fasciotomy, which is, at a
super basic level, surgery on both of my arms,” said Weis. “Despite my
expected recovery time being somewhat up in the air, I thankfully
rebounded pretty quickly and was lucky enough to be able to sail this
event.” After Gibbs and Weis finish racing at the Pan American Games,
they will head directly to Japan for the Ready Steady Tokyo Olympic Test
Event along with Team USA Men’s Laser representative Charlie Buckingham
(Newport Beach, Calif.), Men’s 49er sailors Andrew Mollerus (Larchmont,
Fla.) and Ian MacDiarmid (Delray Beach, Fla.), and Women’s 49erFX
athletes Stephanie Roble (East Troy, Wisc.) and Maggie Shea.
Team
USA Women’s Laser Radial athlete, Charlotte Rose (Houston, Texas) also
made some significant progress up the leaderboard today. After two
first-place finishes today, Rose jumped up to a medal position from
eighth place overall. Tomorrow, she will begin the day in second place
overall.
Rose
is one of the first athletes who spent much of her career in the Laser
Radial training with US Sailing’s Olympic Development Program (ODP).
“I've been on the ODP track more or less since the program started,”
said Rose. The ODP is a program designed to provide structured coaching
and training support for young athletes making the transition into
Olympic class racing. Rose attributes some of her success at this event
and the recent Laser Radial World Championships to her time training
with the ODP. “I think that it has played a really big role in helping
me grow as a sailor. Not only was I able to be a part of the Gulf Coast
Youth Sailing Association in Houston, but I was also sailing with the
ODP. That meant that I got to train with a bunch of other amazing
athletes and coaches across the country. Now I have the opportunity to
train with people like [US Sailing Team Athletes] Erika Reineke and
Paige Railey. So I'm really grateful to have that experience.”
Rose,
Gibbs, and Weis are among several Team USA sailors that currently stand
in medal positions. Open Sunfish athlete Conner Blouin (Tampa, Fla.)
also sailed himself into a medal position today. Thanks to a few
top-three finishes, Blouin now stands in the Bronze position. Ernesto
Rodriguez (Maimi, Fla.) Hallie Schiffman (Sarasota, Fla.) are still
leading the Mixed Snipe fleet. Men’s Laser sailor Charlie Buckingham and
Women’s 49erFX team Stephanie Roble and Maggie Shea stand in second
place, in their respective fleets. Pedro Pascual (West Palm Beach, Fla.)
and Will Cyr (Bayview, Mich.) are currently holding the bronze medal
positions in the Men’s RS:X and Open Formula Kite fleets.
Racing is scheduled to resume tomorrow at 1100 local time.
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