McNay & Dallman-Weiss officially Paris bound in the mixed 470, 49erFXs begin international selection
by US Sailing Team 6 Mar 2024 09:25 NZDT
Stu McNay finishes applying USA bow stickers to his and Lara Dallman-Weiss's 470 - Paris 2024 Test Event © Allison Chenard
Stu McNay and Lara Dallman-Weiss secured "country qualification" on March 3 in Palma De Mallorca, Spain at the 470 World Championship, officially locking in their ticket to Marseille after winning U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Sailing on January 13.
This will be McNay's fifth Olympic Games (Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio 2016, and Tokyo 2020 Olympian) and Dallman-Weiss's second (Tokyo 2020 Olympian).
From Lara Dallman-Weiss:
"The U.S. Trials was a major event for us that we spent a lot of energy preparing for so it's a relief to now have the country qualified. Both the Trials for athlete selection and the Worlds for country qualification have been some of the hardest sailing I've done due to the intense pressure from all angles! For me, I become highly motivated when I feel the magnitude of the team and the country we get to represent - that's insanely motivating. We're so proud to represent the US at the Paris 2024 Olympics and are eager to get training with a full focus on the Games.
Ahead of country qualification at the 2024 World Championship, Stu and I spent a couple weeks training in Palma, a venue we both really love. We had an amazing qualifying series with some personal best scores in the international fleet. We were top 10 overall and a few points out of third for the first five races and ultimately dropped to 26th in the final series, but those days challenged us and taught us some lessons we'll be able to bring with us to Marseille this summer.
We have an excellent schedule leading up to the Games including several regattas and training blocks with some of the fastest teams to test against. I love this time because the task at hand is crystal clear, and we get to put all of our energy into perfecting our teamwork, equipment and physical fitness.
Congratulations to Nikki Barnes [Tokyo 2020 Olympian with Lara] and Ted McDonough for racing their first World Championship as a team and helping us earn country qualification. As the 470 is now a new, mixed discipline, it was special to have my former skipper on the starting line as well. And our gratitude to Louisa Nordstrom and Trevor Bornarth for training with us last season. The best thing is to get as many American 470 sailors on the starting line and we're thankful to have spent valuable time in our campaign sparring with strong competitors."