Racing Season is Here

The racing season is off to a very busy start! 

First, we had the Formula Kite European Championships in Murcia, Spain in the middle of March. It was my first big international regatta since the World Championships in August, and I was feeling nervous but super excited to be back on the race course.

I arrived at the venue only a few days before racing started with enough time to get a few training sessions in. Mar Menor was a tricky venue with a really difficult sea state. Although it was flat water, many factors, including the cooler water temperature, made the foils prone to ventilation which was a struggle to manage. Despite this, I focused on resharpening my racing skills. My starts improved significantly over the week as did my speed, and I was stoked to be fighting for the top spots in gold fleet. Although I finished 8th overall in the regatta, I was really happy with my progress throughout the week and had plenty of really good moments that showed my winter training was paying off. With only one week in between the Europeans and the Trofeo Sofia Regatta, it was time to take a few days to recover and quickly reset for the next event.

After a few days off, I got to Palma de Mallorca and did some training sessions before the Trofeo Princesa Sofia Regatta began. We had a wide range of difficult conditions throughout the whole week of racing, and even raced on every kite size which was great practice. My main focus for the regatta was to try out some different starting strategies and continue improving my speed off the start line. There was lots of racing done and plenty of opportunities for learning and improving. I managed to enter the final series in first after winning most of the fleet races, needing to only win one more race in the final in order to secure the regatta win. I was even in the running to win the perpetual Princess Sofia Trophy. I saw the entire situation as a great opportunity for practicing racing under lots of pressure - ideal practice for the Olympics. 

I ended up second in the regatta after getting two UFD’s (being over the start line early) in the medal series. I was disappointed with that, however I had accomplished so many process goals during the week that I was still really proud of my racing. I was glad I had lost by pushing too hard, rather than not enough, so I found that line which I had never found before. Additionally, after struggling with burnout in 2023, the fact that I was so excited about racing and having so much motivation for training just felt incredible. In the grand scheme of things, especially leading up to the Olympics, it felt like I was exactly where I was supposed to be.

After Palma, I had ten days off to relax and reset before my next training block, which was in Hyeres, France. In that time, I did a quick trip to New York City for the Team USA Media Summit, which was an incredible experience. It was a packed day of interviews, photo & video shoots, and meeting so many different athletes. We celebrated 100 days to Paris and announced my Olympic partnership with Ralph Lauren. I even got to go to the Empire State Building and flip the lights to turn red, white, and blue for Team USA. It was a really cool couple of days.

When I got back to France, my plan had been to rest for a few days and then get into training. However, my team and I saw some learning opportunities in doing some of the racing at the Semaine Olympique Francaise regatta, so I decided to do a few races on the first day. I was feeling pretty tired both mentally and physically, so I rested a couple days after that, and then raced on the final day of the regatta. I learned a lot and had some really great moments around the course which felt really good.

The past few weeks I’ve been training in Hyeres preparing for the World Championships which start in just a couple days. It’ll be my 8th time racing at the World Championships, and I’ve definitely been reminiscing on all these years of racing. I’m feeling really excited for racing and extremely grateful to be here doing this. It wouldn’t be possible without all my incredible supporters, donors, sponsors, friends, and my family. I am so incredibly thankful to be on the road to Paris and to have you here with me.

Now it’s time to shred till dead!