THM Racing: Key moments from 2023

Ali ten Hove and Mariah Millen are in pursuit of winning a medal for Canada at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Sailing in the Women’s Skiff event (49erFX), they took a big step by claiming the silver medal at the 2023 Pan Am Games, and closed out the year training alongside the American team of Paris Henken and Anna Tobias in Lanzarote, Canary Islands.

Known as THM Racing, they report on some key moments from their 2023 season:
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Countries: 8
Flights: 26
Ferries: 4
On water sailing days: 193
Regattas: 5

January: We headed to Lanzarote for the first training camp of 2023. Logged tons of hours and really worked on our boat handling in strong breeze.

February: We did three regattas and won the last training event hosted in Lanzarote.

March: Competed at the Princess Sofia Regatta. Climbed from deep in the results to 19th. This qualified us for the Pan American Games and Olympic Test Event.

April: Won the first race of Hyères French Olympic Week, finish 13th, just shy of the medal race after a tough last day.

May: We spent the month training on Marseille and collected as much venue data as possible.

June: We had fitness testing at home where both of us hit a ton of PRs! We headed back to continue our training in Marseille.

July: We finished 13th at the Test Event following two DSQs and one retirement.

August: Found out that Mariah tore her ACL and was likely going to need surgery to continue.

September: Month of rehab and slowly got back in the boat.

October: Training leading up to Pan Ams at home.

November: Competed in Chile won Silver.

December: Training camp in Lanzarote.
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The duo secured for Canada entry to the Paris 2024 Olympics by finishing as the top North American boat at the Pan Am Games. However, to be selected as the Canadian representatives for Paris, they must compete in the Canadian Olympic Trials which are a combination of the 2024 World Championships (Lanzarote, Spain: March 4-10) and the Palma World Cup (Palma, Spain: April 1-6). Their final finishing position at each event will be combined to sum a total score, and the team with the lowest score will be nominated to the Canadian Olympic Team.

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 28-August 9

Details:
• Paris website: https://www.paris2024.org/en/the-olympic-games-paris-2024/
• World Sailing microsite: https://paris2024.sailing.org/

Source: US Sailing