Four Canadian 49er & 49erFX sailors et in Cascais as countdown to Tokyo 2020 continues
by Sail Canada 4 May 2021 12:25 NZST
4-9 May 2021
Team Canada © Sail Canada
Four Canadian sailors who have been nominated to represent Team Canada at this summer's 2020 Olympic Games, Ali ten Hove and Mariah Millen as well as Will Jones and Evan DePaul, will continue to prepare for Tokyo by taking part in the 2021 Cascais 49er and 49erFX Championships starting Tuesday in Portugal.
Ten Hove (Kingston, ON) and Millen (Toronto, ON) will compete in the 49erFX event, while DePaul (Burlington, ON) and Jones (Jerseyville, ON) will take part in the 49er event.
Canada will also be represented by two members of the Canadian Sailing Development Squad, sisters Antonia and Georgia Lewin-LaFrance from Chester, NS. They will represent Canada in the 49erFX competition.
The 2020 49erFX World Champions, Támara Echegoyen and Paula Barceló from Spain, are among the close to 40 registered participants who will take part in this competition set to run until Sunday.
At their last competition in March at the Lanzarote International Regatta, ten Hove and Millen took the 32nd spot. Team Jones/DePaul finished 39th while the Lewin-LaFrance sisters were the top Canadians with a 24th place finish.
"We feel super fortunate to get another opportunity to race again," said Mariah Millen. "After some much-needed rest at home, we are ready to push hard at the Cascais Championships and learn as much as we can leading up to the Games. We are super excited to get racing again!"
"For us, this is another opportunity to work on and check a few things we have highlighted in our lead up to the Games, said the skipper of the Canadian 49er team, Will Jones. With Evan coming off an injury, we don't have any expectations with the event. We are simply working through our training plan and this regatta gives us a chance to address some skills in a racing scenario."
Ali ten Hove, Mariah Millen, Evan DePaul and Will Jones are part of the 9-member team that has been nominated to represent Canada in sailing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, slated for July 23rd to August 8th, 2021. More details at www.sailing.ca/events/2020-olympic-games.