Awesome time for women in sailing

by Michelle Slade, St. Francis Sailing Foundation
It’s not easy for an Olympic hopeful to sit on the bench while her nemeses are hitting the all-important major pre-Olympic European events, like the recent Trofeo Princesa Sofia held in Palma de Mallorca. But Erika Reineke is still rehabilitating an injury, albeit on the home stretch, that she incurred back in February racing with the US SailGP team in Sydney, Australia.

She was running across the trampoline on a tack and got her foot stuck in a small little space on the tramp; she was wearing new shoes and the tip of the shoe was just the perfect size to get stuck. She fell and broke her ankle badly.

“It was kind of a freak accident,” Reineke smiled wryly. “Fortunately, I still have plenty of time to get strong again before the Olympic test event this summer for which I qualified. The unfortunate part is that I wasn’t able to participate in Palma, but I’ll only miss that one major Olympic event.”

Reineke’s experience this quad is completely different to her lead up to the 2020 Olympics, held in 2021. In 2017, she had just graduated from college and was finally able to sail full-time for the first time. This time around Reineke has had a lot less time in her boat of choice, the Laser Radial, because she started out a 2024 campaign in the 49erFX with best friend Lucy Wilmot. – Full report

Sailing World Cup 2023:
April 3-8 – Trofeo Princesa Sofia – Mallorca, Spain
April 22-29 – Semaine Olympique Française – Hyères, France
May 31-June 4 – Allianz Regatta – Almere, Netherlands
June 17-25 – Kieler Woche – Kiel, Germany

Paris 2024 Olympic Sailing Program:
Men’s One Person Dinghy – ILCA 7
Women’s One Person Dinghy – ILCA 6
Mixed Two Person Dinghy – 470
Men’s Skiff – 49er
Women’s Skiff – 49erFx
Men’s Kiteboard – Formula Kite Class
Women’s Kiteboard – Formula Kite Class
Men’s Windsurfing – iQFoil
Women’s Windsurfing – iQFoil
Mixed Multihull – Nacra 17

Venue: Marseille, France
Dates: July 26-August 11

Details: https://www.paris2024.org/en/the-olympic-games-paris-2024/