INTO THE MIX

A new Olympic discipline, unknown teams and a long road to Paris: These are the burdens of today's Mixed 470 sailors.

- LUCAS MASIELLO

TRAINING alone in their International 470 off the south shore of Long Island, New York, in the summer of 2021, Louisa Nordstrom and Trevor Bornarth were a world away from the spectacle of the Tokyo Games. There, Olympians Stu McNay and Dave Hughes rolled their sails together for the last time, marking the end of the individual men's and women's Olympic 470 disciplines and the beginning of the new Mixed Olympic 470 era. For Nordstrom and Bornarth, and many young sailors looking to reach the pinnacle of dinghy sailing, this new coed medal provides a unique opportunity to compete in the Paris and Los Angeles Games.

"It (the switch to a mixed class) does level the playing field a little bit for a new sailor coming into the fleet because everyone has to reset by sailing with a new person," Nordstrom says. "There's a lot of younger talent coming into the 470 because I think it's easier to get into the class given that everyone is starting fresh."

Nordstrom, 24, from Sarasota, Florida, grew up racing in the ILCA 6, Club 420 and 29er fleets and excelled at Yale, receiving four College Sailing All-American honors before graduating in 2020. Bornarth, two years younger and from Port Solerno, Florida, stood out in the International 420 class, placing second at the 2017 World Sailing Youth World Championships. While pursuing Olympic 470 sailing full time, Bornarth is also enrolled online at the University of Florida.

The pair first connected in Newport in the fall of 2020 through the US Sailing Team Olympic Development Program, an initiative aimed at preparing elite youth sailors for Olympiclevel competition. With both sailors aiming for the 2024 Games, they began their campaign with the Oyster Bay 470 Team and were named to the US Sailing Team in 2022.