Historic double gold for Canada: Will Keilty & Tia Kinnear claim US Optimist National Sailing Title

Will Keilty & Tia Kinnear claim US Optimist National Sailing Title © Sail Canada

Canadian sailors rewrote the record books at the 2026 US Optimist National Championships held at Little Egg Harbor Yacht Club over the last week.

Will Keilty of Kingston, Ontario, became at age 15 the first Canadian ever to win the US Optimist National Championship, while teammate Tia Kinnear of Halifax became the first Canadian female sailor ever to win the Girls US National Championship. They respectively race for the Lake Ontario Optimist Team (LOOT) and the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron.

Will Keilty's win ends a quarter century of American dominance; not since 2001, when an Argentine sailor lifted the trophy, has a non-American won the event. Racing under sail number CAN 1918 in the four-day mixed championship July 29-August 1, Keilty posted eight race wins as well as two second-place results and a third-place finish across 12 races in a fleet of 319 boats from the United States, Canada, Hong Kong and Bermuda, discarding a sixth-place result as his worst placing. When the final race was scored, his 15 net points left him a staggering 70 points clear of runner-up Margaux Nguyen-Minh of Hong Kong's Aberdeen Boat Club, a margin virtually unheard of across a 12-race national championship.

"I'm mostly just relieved", said Will Keilty. "I knew I could do it, but the last two years at the US Nationals, I fell out of first place on the final day, so to finally make it happen is a huge feeling of accomplishment for myself, my coaches, my clubs, and for Canada. I'm so happy to win in my final year of Optimist sailing."

Also a gold medal for Tia Kinnear

Tia Kinnear struck first, winning the Girls US National Championship, a one-day, girls-only event held on July 28, the day before the mixed championship began. No Canadian girl had ever won the title.

She then carried that form into the main event, placing 13th overall in the gold fleet.

"To be the first Canadian girl to win this championship means so much", said Kinnear. "I hope it shows other Canadian girls what's possible."

An historical year for Keilty

These results continue a landmark year for Keilty. In May, Keilty became the first Canadian ever to win an International Optimist Dinghy Association championship, taking the 2026 Optimist North American title on Halifax Harbour against a 172-boat fleet after opening with a 41st-place finish and reeling off six consecutive race wins. He then finished seventh at the 2026 Optimist World Championship in Tangier, Morocco, the best result by a Canadian in the event's 64-year history.

The week was also a milestone for coach Roberto Fabini of Uruguay, who has led LOOT since 2006 and adds two more national champions to a remarkable two-decade tenure. He was assisted by Ethan Thompson of Canada, a former LOOT sailor and current Queen's University student.

"Two historic firsts in one week is proof of what our clubs, coaches and youth programs are building together", said Sail Canada's High Performance Director, Anders Gustafsson. "To beat the deepest Optimist fleets in the world on their home waters is an extraordinary achievement."

Both champions now head to Kingston, Ontario for the CORK International Optimist Regatta starting August 6. Will Keilty will follow with CORK Youth Fest starting August 12, sailing a 29er skiff with new crew Sterling Ott. He will then be off to the Canadian Optimist Championship at Royal Vancouver Yacht Club, where he will chase a record fourth Canadian title.