Antonia & Georgia Lewin-LaFrance record best-ever Canadian performance in 49erFX at Olympic Games

Antonia & Georgia Lewin-LaFrance record best-ever Canadian performance in 49erFX at Olympic Games © Sail Canada

Antonia & Georgia Lewin-LaFrance from Chester, N.S., finished in 11th position of the 49erFX competition at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games following the preliminary series which ended today.

The 11th position is Canada's best-ever Olympic performance in 49erFX, an event which has been part of the Games program since Rio 2016. Erin Rafuse and Dannie Boyd finished 16th overall in 2016, as did Ali ten Hove and Mariah Millen at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

"Obviously, we learned a lot this week," said Georgia Lewin-LaFrance. "The Olympics are really different from a normal competition. The fact that there are only four days of racing and only 20 boats made it quite different for us. There was definitely a learning curve. We're both disappointed to have not made the top 10 because we feel it was well within our reach. At the same time, we're really proud of the work and effort that have gone into this week, and also of what we've accomplished over the last few years and the support we've had around us to help us improve as athletes."

"We've come out of this with a ton of learnings," added Antonia Lewin-LaFrance. "And we're coming out of this as a stronger team. We're close."

Will Jones and Justin Barnes 17th in 49er

In the 49er event, Justin Barnes from Pickering, Ont., and Will Jones from Aldershot, Ont., ended the competition in 17th position.

Will Jones therefore improved his ranking by two spots over the previous Olympics, after he took the 19th position with another teammate at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

"It was a really good experience," said Will Jones. "Overall, we were kind of looking to just stay in the fight every race, and I think we did that. We are happy with how we performed."

"It's been a lot of fun," added Justin Barnes. "Will and I entered it with a pretty good mindset. It was a lot of fun every day. We really, really enjoyed the racing and being in the mix. We had some good races, and had some races where we wished we could have done a bit better. But overall, it was really great to be in the mix with these guys who are the best in the world for their respective countries and to be racing with them. It felt really good to put up some good scores here and there."

Sarah Douglas in action starting Thursday

Sarah Douglas from Toronto will kick off her event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games tomorrow in ILCA 6, with two races scheduled on Thursday.

Emily Bugeja from Vancouver will be in action starting Sunday in women's kiteboarding.

More information is available at www.sailing.ca.