Six days of racing at the future LA 2028 Olympic venue wrapped up on Friday, with Hannah Snellgrove, Matt Wearn, and British 470 pair Martin Wrigley and Bettine Harris claiming gold in their respective classes at San Pedro OCR.
Wrigley and Harris had led the 470 fleet for much of the week and backed it up on the final day, winning the opening race of the new Final Series outright. Germany's Simon Diesch and Anna Markfort took silver, with Sweden's Anton Dahlberg and Lovisa Lindner rounding out the podium. "It was quite exciting," said Wrigley. "It wasn't so straightforward in all of the races. There were some pressure differences across the courses which made it more interesting than maybe you might have thought."
The pair had already spent several weeks training in San Pedro before the regatta. Harris noted the tactical complexity on the long upwind legs. "I think the whole world probably knows to go right, but it was just figuring out exactly how that paid out."
The ILCA 6 result carried particular emotional weight. Snellgrove had started the week in third, slipped to seventh on the second day, then ground her way back up the leaderboard to claim gold. "Some wins mean more than others," the 2024 Olympian said. "It's special to win on Olympic waters two years out from the Games, but this one is particularly emotional for me as it's my first time back racing since losing my dad a few weeks ago. This gold medal is for him."
Ireland's Eve McMahon climbed back into the top three on the final day to take bronze, with American Charlotte Rose jumping up a spot to claim silver on home waters.
Wearn sealed the ILCA 7 result after a week-long battle at the top of the fleet, with Cyprus' Pavlos Kontides taking silver. "It feels good to be winning at the Olympic venue," Wearn said. "It's a nice way to kick things off." Great Britain's Micky Beckett closed the week with a bullet to secure bronze.
Beckett was measured about what the venue demands. "The aim is always to go away having a good idea of what you need to practice. We're not turning up here with everything perfect, but we are trying to go away with a rough idea that in our own time and over the European winter, we can have a crack at getting better at whatever is required to do well in these conditions."
"The basics are easy. It's the details that are hard and difficult to do well."
Ireland's Finn Lynch, who finished seventh in ILCA 7 after spending much of the week near the podium, was already thinking ahead. "When we debrief this summer and get all of our minds together, we'll create a blueprint of what a gold medal performance will look like in 2028 and what we need to be able to nail," Lynch said. "Then we can work backward from that."
One of the week's standout moments came on day five in the 470, when Israel's Nitai Hasson and Noga Tiano pulled off an audacious port start from the pin end. With jibs flogging everywhere less than a minute from the start, the pair tightened their sails on the right side of the line and made a dash for the pin on starboard, tacking at the horn and clearing 44 boats to win the start. "I was trying to bring some action into the fleet," said Hasson. "It was awesome," Tiano added.
In ILCA 6, Great Britain's Matilda Nicholls produced one of the regatta's most striking comebacks. After finishing day four in 14th and seemingly outside the points range for the Final Series, she fought her way back from elimination to earn her place in the top ten for the final day.
Wrigley summed up the mood as the boat park emptied out. "It's been really cool to finally experience the conditions this place has to offer. The Olympic cycle feels real now."
Racing at the venue continues in August, when the 49er, 49er FX, and Nacra 17 classes take to the LA Harbor from 3 to 8 August.
