Sarah Douglas pursues her road to Paris 2024 at French Olympic Week in Hyères

Sarah Douglas won the gold medal in ILCA 6 at the World Sailing Hempel World Cup © Sailing Energy / Princesa Sofía Mallorca

Canadian sailor Sarah Douglas from Toronto, ON, will be back in action next week, April 25-30, at the French Olympic Week competition in Hyères, FRA, two weeks after winning a gold medal in ILCA 6 at the World Sailing Hempel World Cup in Spain.

After winning six of the 11 scheduled races in Spain and coming up with her first podium finish - as well as her first career gold medal - at a World Sailing competition, Sarah Douglas spent some time training at the sailing venue for the 2024 Olympic Games in Marseille on her way to Hyères.

At the French Olympic Week competition, the 28-year-old athlete will once again face the top ranked sailors in the world in ILCA 6, including Hannah Snellgrove from Great Britain and Vasileia Karachaliou from Greece, who respectively took the second and third spots at the first World Cup held this season. Emma Plasschaert from Belgium, who was fourth at Tokyo 2020, will also take part in the competition.

"I'm looking forward to the second European event of the season," said Sarah Douglas. "I've just spent the past week training in Marseille, at the 2024 Olympic sailing venue, and learning more about it and the conditions. A majority of the top sailors will be there for French Olympic Week and I'm excited to wrap up this Europe trip with another high-calibre regatta."

16 Canadian sailors in Hyères

Including Sarah Douglas, a total of 16 Canadian sailors will compete at the French Olympic Week competition in Hyères. Among them will be Tokyo 2020 Olympians Ali ten Hove and Mariah Millen in 49er FX, as well as four athletes in ILCA 6 and 10 in ILCA 7.

"Princess Sofia taught us some pretty hard lessons, but we are happy to walk away from the event with some new learnings," said Ali ten Hove and Mariah Millen, who finished 29th at the World Cup in Spain. "This will be our first time in Hyères and it will be a great opportunity to start putting the pieces together, by focusing on our process goals and continuing to target skills as we prep for our peak events later this season."

Canadian sailors at the French Olympic Week competition in Hyères, FRA:

ILCA 6
Sarah Douglas (Toronto, ON, ABYC) - Canadian Sailing Team
Clara Gravely (Toronto, ON, ABYC) - Canadian Sailing Development Squad
Coralie Vittecoq - (Montréal, QC, Pointe-Claire YC/BLBC) - Canadian Sailing Development Squad
Maura Dewey - (Victoria, B.C., RVYC) - Canadian Sailing Development Squad

49er FX
Ali ten Hove (Kingston, ON) & Mariah Millen (Toronto, ON) - Kingston YC/RCYC - Canadian Sailing Team

ILCA 7
Luke Ruitenberg (St. Margaret's Bay, N.S., RNSYS) - Canadian Sailing Development Squad
Fillah Karim (Vancouver, B.C., RVYC) - Canadian Sailing Development Squad
Liam Bruce (Oakville, ON, Port Credit YC) - Canadian Sailing Development Squad
Ryan Anderson (Halifax, N.S., RNSYS) - Canadian Sailing Development Squad
Francis Charland (Île Cadieux, QC, CVDM)
Kofi Dinel (Montréal, QC, BLBC)
Ian Elliott (Victoria, B.C. RVYC/HKKK/MKS)
Ben Flower (Tobermory, ON, Tobermory YC)
James Juhasz (Oakville, ON, BHYC)
Forrest Wachholz (Innisfil, ON, Barrie YC)

More details as well as a link to results are available on Sail Canada website à www.sailing.ca.