Thursday, November 2nd, 2023.- On the sixth day, Pan American sailing determined the sailors competing in the medal race and some athletes who secured the 22 country spots for South America and the North, Central America, and the Caribbean (NACC) regions for Paris 2024.

Tomorrow, in the penultimate day of the competition, the Nacra 17, 49er (male and female), IQ Foil, and Formula Kite classes at Playa El Quisco will be the first to finish their races in this competition, which began on Saturday, October 24.

In the IQ Foil and Formula Kite classes, both making their debut in Paris 2024, a series of races will determine the Pan American medalists. The two regional spots to France were secured by Canadian Markus Edegran and Colombian Víctor Bolaños. The series was won by the Brazilian Bruno Chaves, who had already qualified for the Olympics and finished the qualifying races undefeated.

Canada's Emilie Bugeja and Colombia's María Loayza earned spots in the female's Kite class.

In the females IQfoil class, Mexican Mariana Aguilar, who had already secured her ticket to the Olympics, won the class. She won nine out of 16 races. The regional spots went to Peruvian María Belén Bazo and American Dominique Starter.

The Brazilian team of Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze, two-time Olympic champions (Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020), secured their spot for Paris by winning the FX class and are clear favorites to win the Pan American gold. The second ticket went to Canada's Alexandre Ten Hove and Mariah Millen.

The final day, on Saturday, will feature the development of seven classes for medals. The medal race is worth double points and is not discardable.

In the ILCA7 class, which awards two Olympic spots, Chile's Clemente Seguel is in the Olympic spot and is competing with Brazil's Bruno Fontes and Argentina's Francisco Guaragna. The spot for the North, Central America, and the Caribbean (NCAC) region is currently held by Guatemalan Juan Ignacio Maegli, who is competing under the banner of Independent Athletes (IA).

In the ILCA6 class, Mexican Elena Oetling and Uruguayan Dolores Moreira secured their Olympic spots since American Erika Reinke and Canadian Sarah Douglas are already qualified.

In the 49er class, the Olympic spot will be determined in the medal race, where Uruguay (Hernán Umpierre and Fernando Diz) and Brazil (Marcos Grael and Gabriel Silva) are competing for a place. In NCAC, the United States' Sarah Newberry and David Liebenger are in contention.

In the Nacra 17 mixed class, the South American spot for Paris goes to the Brazilians Samuel Reis and Gabriela Niciolino, and the Americans Sarah Newberry and David Liebenberg.

In the regional classes, the Sunfish female's class will compete in the medal race with the clear favorite, Catherina Romero from Peru. The silver medal will be contested between Philipine Van Aanholt from Aruba and María José Poncell from Chile.

In the Sunfish Men's class, the fight for gold will be between the Canadian Lee Parkhill, the Peruvian Jean Paul de Trazegnies, and the Chilean Diego González.

Both the Lightning and Snipe classes will have their last two qualifying races.

In Snipe, the Argentines Julio Alsogaray and Malena Sciarra, the Uruguayans Pablo Fazio and Dominique Knuppel, and the Chileans Matías Seguel and Constanza Seguel will compete for the gold.

In the Lightning class, the competitors vying for gold include Allan Terhune Jr, Madeline Balldrige, and Sarah Chin from the United States; Felipe Robles, Carmina Malsh, and Paula Herman from Chile; and Douglas Ramsay, Jessica Joyce, and Rachel Green from Canada.

Written by Esteban Gómez - Rodrigo Parragué; translated by Andrés Castro / Santiago 2023 vía Photosport
Photo by Matías Capizzano / Santiago 2023 vía Photosport