With the medal race wrapping up just over a week ago, my second Miami World Cup came to a close. Disappointingly, I was in the coach boat watching a number of my teammates instead of in my Laser racing with them.
After day one I was sitting in 12th place and felt I could move up to secure a spot in the medal race.
Photo Credit: Pedro Martinez/Sailing Energy
Although impressively half of the 10 competitors in the Laser medal race were Canadian, the athlete from Trinidad and Tobago beat out the Canadians to finish 4th and secured a spot at his 3rd Olympics. Sadly this leaves Canada without a place in the Laser fleet at the Tokyo 2020 games.
Unfortunately, this turn of events will bring some changes to the team. A few athletes will likely retire, meaning that valuable training partners will disappear. While 2020 was never my goal, I had hoped to experience a Canadian Olympic trials process and was looking forward to spending a bit more time with the senior members of our team to better prepare myself for 2024.
Checking in with Canadian Team coach Larry Lemieux.
Photo Credit: Pedro Martinez/Sailing Energy
While my results for this event could have been better, I feel confident about the training I had going into the event. I am grateful for the reminder of the importance of staying focused on the process. After the first day, I was sitting in 12th place and felt that I could move up into the medal race. Unfortunately, I put extra pressure on myself to achieve this and lost sight of the process, which is what has gotten me to strong results. Over the following days, I fell to 23rd place after some flag trouble (penalties) and poor decision making. While 23rd is a significant improvement from last year, it's essential to acknowledge that the fleet was weaker, with 40 instead of 100 boats and almost no sailors from outside of North and South America.
Regardless, I'll move forward, grateful for the valuable lesson, and a deep motivation to ensure that our country spot at the 2024 Olympics is qualified before the final regional qualifier, so Canada isn't in this situation again.
RESULTS
VIDEO REPLAY - MEDAL RACE (Laser begins 2:40)