Five Ps: Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance

After Sarah Douglas (CAN) finished sixth in the Women’s One Person Dinghy event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, she has been on a mission to get to the podium for Paris 2024. But her progression took a big stumble when she finished 26th at the 2024 ILCA 6 Women’s World Championship. She explains what happened:

This year’s World Championships started early in 2024 and did not leave much time for the holidays as I had to head to Argentina on December 26th. With the short holiday, I tried to make the most of what I could, and was in charge of Christmas Eve dinner where I thought I would try something new.

In hindsight, trying something new with a mandoline (food slicer) right before traveling and competing was a risk. A severe pinky cut later, I was unsure if I’d be able to sail. I tried to downplay how severe the cut was and didn’t get it professionally looked at until it was too late.

I learnt the hard way that you have to get stitches within 17 hours of an accident. The doctor told me that it will take weeks to heal and now it has to heal from the inside out. It was a daily process of switching band-aids, preventing infection and trying to speed up the recovery that continued until after the Worlds finished.

When I arrived in Argentina, I was unable to use my pinky. In fact, any time I hit it, I was almost in tears. So, there I was, sailing a world championships with only three fingers and my thumb. I am grateful that our athletic therapist was in Argentina to help me with bandaging and protecting my finger everyday.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only challenge. From storms interrupting racing and charter boat issues to the death of my grandfather and my coach falling sick, it felt like everything continued to pile on and I was fighting each day to refocus and keep to my routine. My mental performance coach said it perfectly when we caught up while I was in Argentina: “when it rains, it pours.”

I can make up a lot of excuses for this World Championships but at this point of my career, I have to face the reality that my preparations were not good enough and we did not set up properly for a peak event.

I am coming away from Argentina with a lot of lessons and a renewed focus on ensuring that no outside factors can affect my performance on the water. The good news is that we are eight months away from Paris 2024 and I now have a significant lead in the Olympic selection trials. The only peak event that matters now is Paris 2024.

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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/