Paris 2024 Olympics: Sailing medal chance Lisa Darmanin quits, chasing America's Cup dream
She had been on course to create history at the Paris 2024 Olympics but Australian sailor Lisa Darmanin will remain ashore when the fleet heads out next year to chase another dream.
Nacra 17 sailor Lisa Darmanin was on course to become the first woman to win two Olympic medals in sailing for Australia.
However, the loss of her crew mate, a ticking clock and an unexpected offer have combined to result in her tacking away from the Olympic arena less than a year out from the Paris 2024 Games.
Instead, the Rio Olympic silver medallist and Tokyo Games sailor from Sydney’s northern beaches will turn her energies into racing at the next America’s Cup as part of the first Australian women’s challenge.
Darmanin said she needed more time with a new crew mate to be in the medal hunt at the Paris Games, where sailing will be held at the French port of Marseilles.
Her cousin Jason Waterhouse, with whom she won silver at the Rio Olympics, had to beach his campaign for his own America’s Cup opportunity.
“It’s disappointing a year out to do this but I knew we just didn’t have the time,’’ said Darmanin, who turned to coach and Sydney Olympic silver medallist Darren Bundock as a stand-in crew mate after Waterhouse’s decision.
“If we had two years up our sleeve I think we could have made it, but one year was not going to do it justice,’’ she said.
“I also ran out of steam.”
“But this, being involved with the women’s Americas Cup, has just supercharged my energy.
“It’s got me very excited.”
The loss of the two-time Olympic pair is a blow to the Australian sailing team, which won two medals at the Tokyo Olympics but now has just one returning medallist for the Paris Olympics in ILCA 7 champion Matt Wearn.
Fellow Tokyo Olympic gold medallists Mat Belcher and Will Ryan are also out of the running because the men’s 470 dinghy they raced has been omitted from the sailing program for the Paris Games.
Darmanin and Waterhouse finished fifth in Tokyo due to speed issues associated with a lack of international competition because of Covid but were expected to be back in the medal chase in Marseilles, where the Olympic sailing will run from July 26 to August 11.
Darmanin is also working on the SailGP series as an on-water reporter and forging out a new career in the media.
She was last week named as part of a 17 strong squad for Australia’s women’s and youth challenges during the America’s Cup in Barcelona next year after the Olympic Games and is hoping to be a trimmer in the final for the women’s crew in the main event.
The team will be whittled down in size as the event approaches. Four women will race the foiling AC 40 boat in Spain.
“I’m so passionate about women sailing and now is the chance for us to prove we are as good as the men,” Darmanin said.
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