America One Racing ILCA 7 Olympic Trials
Miami Beach, February 27th, 2024
An intense 14 race Olympic Trials series decided the USA representative for the 2024 Olympics during February in the waters off South Beach Miami.
The America One Racing ILCA 7 team, fresh from their recent World Championship in Australia, battled it out in a fleet of 36 other USA hopefuls - a mixture of upcoming youth, current campaigners and veteran experience made up the fleet.
Miami provided the goods: winds in all strengths and directions, big waves, flat water, storms, sun and a beautiful backdrop. The racing was intense.
From day 1, Ford McCann laid down a marker, two race wins, and never relinquished his lead throughout the whole event, no matter what the conditions were. His consistency in speed and vision of the fleet made him hard to beat. He was pushed hard, very hard, by 2nd placed Leo Boucher (who placed 1st or 2nd in eight of the races), Chapman Petersen, and Ford’s twin brother Marshall McCann (both of whom won 3 of the races each)
Rounding out the top 5 was Daniel Escudero, who had some great races and showed good speed, but was inconsistent over the whole week, and left himself too much to do in the last few races.
The top 5 were all America One Racing (8 out of top 10) supported athletes and it is a testament to the support that they have had, both direct and through coaching support, that they have raised their game to this level.
Every day before racing, the A1R team would line up to test speed together and after racing debrief together, constantly striving to get better as a group, while knowing that only one of them could win. This is the proven culture of success that A1R supports.
The next challenge is to qualify the USA for a country spot at the Olympics, which will happen at an event in Hyeres, in the south of France in April.
There are 3 country spots left.
Even though Ford has won the trials, and will go to the Olympics should the USA get a country spot, the rest of the team will be in Hyeres helping to qualify the USA, still working together. This is the A1R way.