US Sailing Team competes at Tokyo 2020 Olympic venue

US Sailing Team members meet and greet with students from Fujisawa, Japan © US Sailing

The world class international regattas in Japan this month offers members of the US Sailing Team an important opportunity to not only test themselves against the best Olympic class sailors in the world, but to acclimate themselves to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic venue and overall sailing conditions.

The 2018-2019 World Cup Series is officially underway in Enoshima for six days of racing from September 11-16. Racing started on Tuesday.

"The World Cup Series events are spaced out well which allows our athletes to complete training blocks in between events and then use World Cups to measure their progress in certain areas of focus," said Malcolm Page, US Sailing's Chief of Olympic Sailing. "The ultimate measurement might not always be in the results, but in the overall process they are working on with their coach."

The competition this week is expected to be fierce, with eight recently crowned World Champions and over 30 OIympic medalists joining an entry list of more than 450 sailors from 45 nations.

"Our primary goal at the events in Enoshima, Japan this year is to learn the Olympic environment," said Page. "While great results are always welcome, they aren't our main focus right now. We're working to get comfortable on the Enoshima race course to help picture what it will look like in two years' time during the Olympic Games."

"I also think it's important for our athletes to acclimate to Japan and its culture and traditions, as well as the water, current, waves and geography of the Olympic venue. This year's trip is not the first to Japan for many of our athletes, and won't be their last before the 2020 Games. They must become 100% familiar with the location."

Many of these sailors will also compete at Enoshima Olympic Week, following the World Cup event, from September 21-24 at the same racing venue.

US Sailing Team in Competition:

470 (Men's Doublehanded Dinghy)

Stu McNay (Providence, R.I.) / Dave Hughes (Miami, Fla.)

Nacra 17 (Mixed Doublehanded Multihull)

Riley Gibbs (Long Beach, Calif.) / Louisa Chafee (Warwick, R.I.)
Bora Gulari (Detroit, Mich.) / Helena Scutt (Kirkland, Wash.)

Laser (Men's Singlehanded Dinghy)

Chris Barnard (Newport Beach, Calif.)
Charlie Buckingham (Newport Beach, Calif.)

Laser Radial (Women's Singlehanded Dinghy)

Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla.)
Erika Reineke (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)
Haddon Hughes (Houston, Texas)

49er (Men's Doublehanded High-Performance Skiff)

Chris Rast (Holland, Mich.) / Trevor Burd (Marblehead, Mass.)
Judge Ryan (San Diego, Calif.) / Hans Henken (Coronado, Calif.)

49er FX (Women's Doublehanded High-Performance Skiff)

Stephanie Roble (East Troy, Wis.) / Maggie Shea (Wilmette, Ill.)

Finn (Men's Singlehanded Heavyweight Dinghy)

Luke Muller (Fort Pierce, Fla.)
Caleb Paine (San Diego, Calif.)

Additional USA Athletes in competition:

470 (Women's Doublehanded Dinghy)

Madeleine Rice (Garden City, N.Y.) / Laura Slovensky (Brookhaven, N.Y.)

Laser (Men's Singlehanded Dinghy)

Malcolm Lamphere (Lake Forest, Ill.)
Marek Zaleski (Norwalk, Conn.)

49er FX (Women's Doublehanded High-Performance Skiff)

Kate Shaner (Kirkland, Wash.) / Charlotte Mack (Palm City, Fla.)