Antonia and Georgia Lewin-LaFrance finish the 2026 49erFX World Championship on a high note
by Sail Canada 18 May 09:15 AEST
May 12-17, 2026
It hasn't been an easy road for Canadian sailors Antonia and Georgia Lewin-LaFrance at the 2026 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 World Championships held this week in Saint-Pierre-Quiberon, France. Nonetheless, their performances to end the regatta allowed them to finish fourth overall.
Antonia and Georgia Lewin-LaFrance started the week in 15th position, then slipped to 20th place following the two-day Preliminary Series. This allowed them to qualify for the Gold Fleet, earning them a shot at a podium finish, as they placed in the top 25 following the Preliminary Series.
In the following round, the two-day Elimination Series, they moved up to the 14th position, and then to 9th place, qualifying them for the Final Series as one of the top 10 boats.
As part of a new competition test format, the Canadian sisters entered the Final Series with 46 points, eight points shy of a podium finish, resulting from their cumulative score before the Final Series divided by 2.25. To this score, two single-point races, which were held on Sunday, were added to create their final score.
And in Sunday's Final Series racing, Antonia and Georgia Lewin-LaFrance recorded 2nd- and 3rd-place finishes to climb five spots and close out the week in fourth position, tied in points with bronze medalists Alkesandra Melzacka and Sandra Jankowiak from Poland. The Polish team finished ahead of the Canadian sisters in the final race of the competition, a result which served as the tie breaker for the final standings.
"We had a really consistent day," said Antonia and Georgia Lewin-LaFrance. "We just felt pretty confident and happy with the way we sailed today. It was really nice to finish on a high and wrap up the regatta in fourth place overall."
"What made the difference this week was having confidence from the get-go. That was definitely lacking a little bit on our boat in the beginning. And as the week went on, we just became more and more confident with our process, with our starts. And it means that we ended on a really high note, which is really great."
Other Canadian results
Two other Canadian teams were also in action at the 2026 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 World Championships.
In 49er, Thomas and William Staples (Beaconsfield, QC) took the 47th position out of 82 boats, ending the competition in the Bronze Fleet.
In Nacra 17, Galen Richardson (Toronto, ON) and Madeline Gillis (Halifax, N.S.) finished 26th overall out of 45 boats.