Rio 2016 silver medallists Molly Meech and Alex Maloney have touched down in Japan and begun training ahead of their Tokyo 2020 Olympic Test Event.
The 49er FX pairing arrived in Enoshima, where sailing will be contested at Tokyo 2020, two days ago and had their first on water session today (August 10th).
“We’re going pretty good, last month we were up here for a couple of weeks so we’re really getting into the swing of things and looking forward to the test event next week,” said Meech.
“It’s great sailing conditions off Enoshima Bay, you can get an onshore with great waves to sail in and you can also get the offshore which is pretty shifty and similar to sailing back home so we’re enjoying the conditions and trying to get used to the heat,” added Maloney.
With temperatures above 30-degrees the athletes have been using cooling devices to help keep their core temperatures down.
“The humidity’s also pretty high so that’s what gets you. It’s hard to find relief but we’re lucky to be out on the water because you get a breeze and that’s quite cooling,” said Maloney.
“We’ve got a great support team behind us and we’ve been doing heat prep back home which is really helping. We’re also drinking ice slushies and wearing ice vests and using other cooling strategies which are making a difference,” said Meech.
The pair begin racing on August 17th and are looking forward to one of the toughest contests they’ve faced since their Rio campaign.
“It’s the first mimic of the Games we’ve had since Rio and we’ll be racing on Olympic waters roughly a year out from the Games so it’s a pretty important event for us.
“We’re in a good place as a team and are looking forward to starting racing,” said Meech.
Six New Zealand crews will compete in the Tokyo 2020 sailing test events.
Rio silver medalists @mollyalexsailing are putting in the mahi in Japan! The pair have been out training (in the 30-degree heat
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