Skiff (49er FX), Women

The skiff 49er FX has been the choice of the International Sailing Federation to be the women’s high performance double-handed dinghy to be used at the Olympics since Rio 2016, and both winners so far had been the Brazilians Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze, ranked world No. 6 going into the Paris Games. The 2024 Olympic regatta at Marseille consisted of 40 entrants from 20 countries taking part in an opening series of up to 12 races spread over five days, with the 10 best going through to a medal race, when double points were awarded and added to the opening series scores to establish final positions.

Among the 20 teams taking part were the 2022 and 2024 World Champions Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz of the Netherlands, one of the favorites for the gold medal, despite only having a world ranking of eight. The top ranked pair, and 2023 World Championship bronze medalists Jana Germani and Giorgia Bertuzzi of Italy were other potential gold medalists, as were the Swedish 2023 World Champions Vilma Bobeck and Rebecca Netzler, who also won silver in 2022 and 2024.

The first race of the 12-race series was won by the Canadian sisters Georgia and Antonia Lewin-LaFrance but, thereafter, the series was dominated by the Dutch and the French pair of Sarah Steyaert and Charline Picon, who alternated the lead, with either Germany or Sweden vying for the bronze medal position throughout. Despite going into the medal race one point ahead of the Netherlands, the French pair had failed to win a race, but five second places and a consistent series was good enough to take their one-point lead into the medal race. Sweden’s Bobeck and Netzler, and Norway’s Helene Næss and Marie Rønningen, the 2021 World Championships runners-up, were also enjoying a close battle for the bronze medal position.

The medal race was delayed a day because of the weather conditions. When it eventually started, the Norwegian pair took an early lead until the Dutch duo took over and led for the remainder of the race – until the finish, when they nearly threw away their medal chance. With victory in their grasp, they thought the finishing line was in a different place and went the wrong way. This allowed the Swedish pair to take advantage of their error and overtake them to win the race and assure themselves of a silver medal, while Italy’s Germani and Bertuzzi came home second to finish fifth overall.

Fortunately for van Aanholt and Duetz, they quickly rectified their error and got home across the line in third place to win the first sailing gold medal of the Games, as the local favorites Steyaert and Picon finished sixth and won themselves the bronze medal to go with the silver they won at the 2024 European Championships. It was the end of an era for the French pair, as two long Olympic careers spanning four Games came to an end. For the 39-year-old Picon, her bronze medal gave her a complete set of medals after winning windsurfing gold and silver in 2016 and 2020, while the 37-year-old Steyaert won her first medal at the fourth time of asking. For the victors, van Aanholt added gold to the silver medal she won at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics, while her partner Annette Duetz added gold to the bronze that she won in the Tokyo 2020 skiff with Annemiek Bekkering.