Vilamoura, Portugal - Eckerd sailing alum Lara Dallman-Weiss '11 punched her ticket to the 2020 Olympics and will represent the US, along with her Skipper, Nikki Barnes, in the Women's 470 event. The pair etched their names into the US Sailing Teams lineup following a seventh-place finish in the Women's 470 trials event on Friday, March 12.
Dallman-Weiss and Barnes, a US Coast Guard alum, sailed consistently the entire event but solidified their qualifying spot with a third-place finish in the final trial race for a total of 97 points through the 11 races over five days.
The pair knew they sailed well, and their third-place finish bolstered their standings, but they still had to wait to see if they officially qualified to represent the US as scores trickled in.
"My immediate thoughts were complete joy and pride from the race we just sailed. It was a difficult condition and required a lot of physicality, which made the third-place finish incredibly rewarding," said Dallman-Weiss. "We didn't know the qualification results because they depend on how all of the other boats finished, so I was just relieved because I felt that we did all we could do and we sailed our hearts out!"
Shortly after they arrived on shore, the results were finalized and Dallman-Weiss and Barnes officially celebrated their achievement.
"When it was confirmed that we qualified, we were obviously over the moon, but it still hasn't quite sunk in. I think right now we are just so proud of our performance as a team, to finish seventh in the world, and grateful to have such strong competitors pushing us," stated Dallman-Weiss.
Although they just qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, the pair quickly had to focus back on racing as they had to prep for the medal race of the 470 World Championships the next day.
Dallman-Weiss and Barnes continued their stellar performance, placing sixth in the medal race, further solidifying their week-long performance and leaving them in good standing as they set their sights on Tokyo.
What's next for Dallman-Weiss and Barnes as they prep for this summer: "Our training will depend on when we are allowed to enter Japan. So much is up in the air due to COVID, but I suppose it's a continuation of the past year of unknowns. We will return to Miami for a well-deserved rest and then head back to Portugal for the Eastern Championships at the end of April," said Dallman-Weiss.
Dallman-Weiss becomes the second Triton to qualify for the Olympics in any sport, following Courtenay Becker-Dey '87, who won a Bronze medal in the European class (women's one-person dinghy) at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
Read more about Dallman-Weiss' journey to the Olympics here, or watch our interview from the past summer below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MyXc-Fo6T0
To keep up with Dallman-Weiss and Barnes, also known as Team Perfect Vision Sailing, follow them on Facebook and Instagram along with their official website at PerfectVisionSailing.com.
