Noah Lyons: Pushing toward Paris 2024

The US Sailing Team has gained entry for six of the ten Sailing events at the Paris 2024 Olympics, but now has a conundrum as it will be hosting regattas to select the representative in the four other events without knowing if the USA will have entry in those events.

Men’s Windsurfing is one of these events, with the athlete selection regatta to be held in 2024 on January 4-13, yet the only remaining opportunity for the nation to gain entry is in April 2024. Caught in this situation is Noah Lyons, who is 24th in the world rankings, and provides this training update:

The past five months have been some of the busiest, most challenging, most stressful, and most fun five months of my life. I will try and give a quick synopsis and get anybody reading up to date.

2023 Olympic Test Event (July 9-16):
This was my first chance at qualifying myself for the Olympic Games. The regatta was structured just like the real Olympics in that there were 24 competitors, one from each country in my class. In order to qualify myself, I had to place in the top 3. After the first two days, I was sitting solidly in 3rd, but made a string of mistakes which eventually took me out of the top 10. It was an amazing learning experience and taught me a lot about risk management and how to set up my equipment for different breeze in a small fleet.

2023 World Championship (Aug. 10-20):
Overall, a brutal regatta mentally. I was fresh off the Test Event, still recovering mentally, and was thrown into this event. I tried to make the best, but sailed an incredibly poor regatta. This regatta out of any other taught me the most. The ability to bounce back mentally after a bad race or day is a crucial skill to have as a sailor. Due to my mistakes this event, I practiced that a lot. You always learn more from the hard events than from the easy ones.

2023 Pan American Games (Oct. 20-Nov. 10):
This was one of the coolest and most fun regattas I have ever done. Getting the opportunity to bond with the U.S Sailing Team and staff was truly amazing, and I had such a memorable experience sailing in Chile and having such a bonding experience with some truly fantastic people. I was holding second the whole event but unfortunately the medal race did not go my way and I ended up 3rd. Disappointing result but hard to be upset walking away with a medal and the unforgettable experience.

What is next?
I am currently heading to Lanzarote, Spain to do some training and a regatta. We wanted to get some time in Lanzarote because it is where our 2024 World Championships (Jan. 26-Feb. 3) will be following our domestic Olympic Trials in Miami in January. I am super excited to sail in this new place, and get some time on the same waters as the Worlds in a few months.

Paris 2024 Olympic Sailing Program*:
Men’s One Person Dinghy – ILCA 7 (41)
Women’s One Person Dinghy – ILCA 6 (41)
Mixed Two Person Dinghy – 470 (19)
Men’s Skiff – 49er (20)
Women’s Skiff – 49erFX (20)
Men’s Kiteboard – Formula Kite Class (20)
Women’s Kiteboard – Formula Kite Class (20)
Men’s Windsurfing – iQFoil (24)
Women’s Windsurfing – iQFoil (24)
Mixed Multihull – Nacra 17 (19)
* Quota per event in parenthesis but does not include Universality Places (2 men, 2 women)

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

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