For Santi Lange (ARG) in the Nacra 17 Class, whose last year was compromised by a little battle with lung cancer, securing his spot at what will be his sixth consecutive Olympic games was a victory in itself. Now he and crew Cecilia Carranza Saroli are fighting to make up for lost time.
“I am so happy to be back here and ready to go racing in Palma. It has been a battle to get back healthy but here I am. All last year was a fight and so this is the first trip I have done without getting ill. We still have a long way to catch up to the good guys. I am managing to sail. Everything is fine now and we are working hard to be ready for the Games. More than the result here, this is about how we sail. It is all about us how we sail and what we learn from the good guys, slowly from now to August we are trying to close the gap. Last year I sailed very little and with Cecila we have sailed only very few days together in the campaign. But since January we started a bit and now we are trying to sail a lot until the Games.”
Olympic bronze medalist Lange and Carranza Saroli finished 12th at the World Championships in Florida but won two races and finished top three in three other races, and finished fifth at the Miami World Cup regatta.
