Our Connection to Tokyo 2020
This Olympics hit close to home for us with so many close connections to the athletes on the US Sailing Team. We are privileged at 2NINER to have such close relationships with some of the best sailors in the world. Learn more about our Olympic Family:
Finn class, men’s heavyweight singlehanded - Luke Muller, little brother to Phil Muller. Luke has been working toward representing USA at the Olympic Games since we was a little Optimist sailor. He was always big, sizing out of the Opti at 12 years old. Luke sailed Laser radial in South Florida and moved up to the full rig class in his teens; winning Men’s Laser Nationals at age 17 before heading to Stanford University. After graduation Luke was a grinder on NYYC’s American Magic before his Olympic debut in Tokyo 2020. Every winter when Luke is in Miami he drops in to speak to 2NINER sailors and provide insight from his perspective on what it takes to win sailboat races.
Nacra 17, mixed two person multi-hull, Riley Gibbs and Anna Weis. Riley Gibbs sailing career began in California’s Sabot class before he moved into the 29er and was quickly the most skilled crew of his generation. Earning a silver medal at the 2014 Youth World Championship with his skipper Quinn Wilson. Riley won the 505 North Americans in 2016 with skipper Howard Hamlin. Howard is a giant in the California sailing community for building an active 505 class that attracts skilled and dedicated sailors to train together every week and debrief with one another, sharing best practices to raise the bar. Collaboration is a pillar of the skiff community that Riley has passed on since his early skiff days.
Anna Weis from Fort Lauderdale was a youth phenom in the radial class before moving into the high performance multi-hull. Top of her generation, Anna took a hiatus from Boston University where she was on the women’s varsity rowing team. Anna is close to our 2NINER program as she spent some time during covid staying in touch with high performance sailing by sailing with our athletes, since she and Riley were quarantined on separate coasts. Before departing for Tokyo, Anna sat down with our athletes to share her team’s process for preparation for this year’s Olympic Games.
49erFX, women’s double handed high performance boat, Stephanie Roble and Maggie Shea spent much of this past year training in Miami at the Sailing Center. And while their coach, Giulia was quarantined in Italy, they worked with our 2NINER coach. Phil gained invaluable experience working with these two athletes who are at the top of their game in the Olympic skiff. Coordinating practice plans with 4-time Olympian and gold medalist Giulia Conti, Coach took this experience and shared it with our 29ers, which meant that our youth athletes followed the same programming as our Team USA Olympians.
