Sarah Douglas wins Gold medal in ILCA 6 at the World Sailing Hempel World Cup in Spain

Sarah Douglas won the gold medal in ILCA 6 at the World Sailing Hempel World Cup © Sailing Energy / Princesa Sofía Mallorca

Canadian Sailor Sarah Douglas from Toronto, ON, won the gold medal in ILCA 6 (Laser Radial) at the World Sailing Hempel World Cup that was held at the 51st Princess Sofia Trophy in Mallorca, Spain, which ended today.

In the Medal Race, the last event of the week-long competition in ILCA 6, Sarah Douglas finished 6th to officially win the championship title. Following Friday's races, Douglas, who finished 6th at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, was for all intents and purposes sure to win as she had built a 25-point lead on the second-place sailor with one race to go.

A total of 89 ILCA 6 sailors from around the world competed at the World Sailing Hempel World Cup that was held as part of the 51st Princess Sofia Trophy, an event attended by over 1,000 participating athletes in 10 Olympic classes which was the first major Olympic multiclass competition to take place since Tokyo 2020.

At this competition that kicked off on Monday, Sarah Douglas won six of the 11 scheduled races, and finished second twice. With 28 points, she came in front of Hannah Snellgrove of Great Britain with 59 points, and Vasileia Karachaliou from Greece (62 points). This last sailor was one of the 18 competitors in action this week who also performed at Tokyo 2020 last summer.

"What a week!", said Sarah Douglas, who came up with a podium finish at a World Sailing competition for the very first time, and by the same token won her first career gold medal. "It's my first podium at a World Cup, and I won it before the medal race which is nuts."

"I entered the regatta with no expectations and just focused on my process", she added. "My team did a lot of preparations for my first big competition back and I simply had fun on the water. It was challenging conditions each day and I'm exhausted after my first international competition post Tokyo. It's a great start to the new year and new journey to Paris 2024!"

Canada was represented by 30 athletes at this competition, including four teams in 49er and four in 49er FX, as well as four athletes in ILCA 6, 10 in ILCA 7 and one in Nacra 17.

Following are the final Canadian results at the World Sailing Hempel World Cup held at the 51st Princess Sofia Trophy. Full results are available at: www.trofeoprincesasofia.org/en/default/races/race-resultsall.

Full Canadian Results:

ILCA 6
GOLD. Sarah Douglas (Toronto, ON, ABYC) - Canadian Sailing Team
41. Clara Gravely (Toronto, ON, ABYC) - Canadian Sailing Development Squad
44. Maura Dewey - (Victoria, B.C., RVYC) - Canadian Sailing Development Squad
47. Coralie Vittecoq - (Montréal, QC, Pointe-Claire YC/BLBC) - Canadian Sailing Development Squad

ILCA 7
37. Tom Ramshaw (Toronto, ON - RCYC) - Canadian Sailing Team
44. Fillah Karim (Vancouver, BC, RVYC) - Canadian Sailing Development Squad
47. Ben Flower (Tobermory, ON, Tobermory YC)
54. James Juhasz (Oakville, ON, BHYC)
57. Luke Ruitenberg (St. Margaret's Bay, N.S., RNSYS) - Canadian Sailing Development Squad
75. Ryan Anderson (Halifax, N.S., RNSYS) - Canadian Sailing Development Squad
101. Forrest Wachholz (Innisfil, ON, Barrie YC)
119. Norman Struthers (Toronto, ON, RCYC)
126. Liam Bruce (Oakville, ON, Port Credit YC) - Canadian Sailing Development Squad
151. Ian Elliott (Victoria, B.C., RVYC/HKKK/MKS)

49er FX
24. Antonia & Georgia Lewin-LaFrance (Chester, N.S.) - RNSYS/CYC - Canadian Sailing Development Squad
29. Ali ten Hove (Kingston, ON) & Mariah Millen (Toronto, ON) - Kingston YC/RCYC - Canadian Sailing Team
48. Audrey Staples (Beaconsfield, QC) & Marion Lafrance-Berger (Montréal, QC) - RSLYC

49er
46. William Jones (Jerseyville, ON) & Evan DePaul (Burlington, ON) - RHYC - Canadian Sailing Team
49. Arie Moffat (Kingston, ON) & Samuel Bonin (Toronto, ON) - KYC/RCYC - Canadian Sailing Development Squad
62. Thomas & William Staples (Beaconsfield, QC) - RSLYC

Nacra 17
36. Zoé Roosen (Montréal/Beaconsfield, QC) & Nicolas Tosi (Gatineau, QC) - RSLYC/Kelowna YC/PCYC