Brazil obtained four more Olympic places at the Pan American Games in sailing on the route of Algarrobo, in Valparaíso, this Thursday 11/2. Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze, in 49erFX, and Samuel Albrecht and Gabi Nicolino, in Nacra 17, qualified for the medal regatta and guaranteed, in advance, the ranking for Paris 2024. How Brazil competes for places in sailing with the countries of North South and Central America, the current double Olympic and Pan-American champions obtained the necessary score not to be overtaken by the Argentines Maria Sol Branz and Cecilia Carranza by winning one of the last three regattas before the medal regatta.

“Task accomplished. We are very happy to have achieved the ranking. Today’s regatta was very close between the Americans and the Canadians, as it is a strong competition between us and them. Everyone shows their face, we put ourselves in the middle and we go for it. There will be more tomorrow and we will go with everything,” Martine said.

With Olympic qualification expected, the duo now focuses on winning their second Pan American Games championship in a close battle with North Americans Stephanie Roble and Margareth Shea and Canadians Alexandra Ten Hove and Mariah Alice Millen. The medal race will take place this Friday (3) and will have double points and no gap. The Brazilians must outscore their opponents to win first place. A medal is already guaranteed.

At Nacra 17, Samuel Albrecht and Gabriela Nicolino Sá enter the medal race in third position, very close to the North Americans. While the Argentinians Mateo Majdalani and Eugenia Bosco won the Pan in advance and have already conquered the Olympic place for the World Cup, the Brazilians confirmed the green and yellow boat at the Olympic Games.

“We evolve race after race, we improve. And the results leave us alive to compete for the silver medal in medal race against the Americans. We are happy to come to this last race with a chance,” said Albrecht.

The duo who will represent the country at Paris 2024 will be the one who reaches the index for the Princess Sofia Trophy 2024, in Spain. If the two main candidates of Nacra 17 succeed in this feat, a local selection will take place.

Other boats from Brazil to Santiago 2023

In Formula Kite, Bruno Lobo – already qualified for Paris 2024 – enters directly into the final of the new Olympic class and has a real chance of winning the title. With an almost perfect performance, the native of Maranhão awaits the three opponents in the final. Bruno Lobo won 15 of the 16 regattas. The Brazilian only needs to win one race to guarantee gold. In the women’s version, Maria do Socorro Reis arrived at the final regatta in fourth place out of four participants.

In 49er, Marco Grael and Gabriel Simões joined the medal race in fourth place and only have one chance to win bronze. They must beat Canadians William Richard Jones and Justin Barnes in the final regatta also scheduled for Friday.

At IQFoil, Mateus Isaac makes it to the final in third place. In the board category, the rules are different from those of kite flying, where points are generated. The athlete from Aruba will go directly to the final and a semi-final will take place against the athlete from São Paulo. The first two advance to the decision alongside Ethan Westera. Among the women, even in fourth position, Bruna Martinelli can win the round of 16 and reach the grand final.

Bruno Fontes in ILCA 7 is fourth after ten races and in ILCA 6, Gabriella Kidd is sixth overall. At Snipe, the duo of Juliana Duque and Rafa Martins occupy fourth place, tied on 21 points with the Chileans and Uruguayans, who win by tiebreaker criteria and push the Bahians to fourth place on the scoresheet . At the Lightning, Thomas Sumner, Ana Barbachan and Larissa Juk remain seventh after eight disputes.