Paris 2024 470 class Olympic recap.
The 470 class has been part of the Olympic Games since 1976. Initially, it was an open class, but from 1988, men and women competed separately. In Paris, after 36 years, athletes once again competed in the "mixed" category.
This change has evidently suited the Austrians: Lara Vadlau and Lukas Maeh, who secured the gold Olympic medal. Not only is this the most significant achievement in the athletes' careers, but it is also Austria's first gold medal in 20 years!
"We spent as many hours as possible here in Marseille practicing in the bay, to feel at home here over the last three months. That’s why we felt comfortable in the conditions this week. Marseille showed us a lot of different winds. It’s an amazing bay to sail in, but it’s also very difficult to handle," commented the Austrian crew in an interview with World Sailing.
The Austrian sailors started the Olympic Games with a false start, which didn’t dampen their spirits but instead fueled their determination to fight even harder. Vadlau and Maehr sailed consistently, confidently, and effectively, winning two of the eight qualifying races. They entered the medal race, which carried double points, as leaders, with a seven-point lead over the current world champions, Spain's Jordi Xammar and Nora Brugman.
One could say that the medal race did not go as planned for the Austrians (Lara and Lukas finished 7th), but they still managed to come out on top in terms of points. Their main rivals, Jordi Xammar and Nora Brugman, finished in 9th place, dropping to fourth overall and losing their Olympic medal. The silver medal went to Japan's Keiju Okada and Miho Yoshioka, while Sweden's Anton Dahlberg and Lovisa Karlsson claimed the bronze.
Lara Vadlau competed in the Olympics for the third time. In 2012, she placed 20th in London and then became a two-time world champion (2014, 2015) with Jolanta Ogar-Hill. The duo were among the favorites for a medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, finished at 9th.
"After Rio, I had a really hard time because we went into the Olympics as one of the favorites but didn’t win, totally the opposite from now, so I decided to quit sailing and go down another path," Vadlau said. "I became a doctor, I studied medicine, finished my studies, and then watched the Games in Tokyo and saw there was still a part of me that wanted to sail and prove I was the best," commented Lara Vadlau in an interview with World Sailing.
After a five-year break, Vadlau returned to sailing and teamed up with Maehr, a bronze medalist at the 2017 World Championships, to compete in the entirely new Olympic class.
"My parents always took me sailing on Lake Wörthersee, but I always wanted to do something more exciting and begged them to go skiing or motocross. Then one day, at the age of 7, they put me in a small boat called the Optimist... That day, the wind blew across the water, and my great passion for this sport was born. From that point on, I couldn't imagine ANYTHING cooler, more exciting, and more adrenaline-filled, and I was totally in love." (sailing.org/sailor/lara-vadlau)
