Richmond Yacht Club’s David Liebenberg Qualifies for Paris Olympics

The suspense of the Olympic trials is finally over, with the last US Sailing team members to qualify for an Olympic berth. Richmond Yacht Club’s David Liebenberg and his skipper, Sarah Newbury Moore, will head to Paris/Marseille to represent the US in the Nacra 17. It’s a stellar result meaning David will join Daniela Moroz and Hans Henken as Bay Area sailors headed to France to compete in this summer’s Olympics.

For both Sarah and David it is the culmination of a 10-year quest. Beyond the last 10 years of competition and hard work, they first had to make sure the US qualified to have a berth at the Olympics, which they did at the Pan Am games last November. Next they had to qualify by having the best combined points of US competitors at this year’s Trofeo Princesa Sofía and Nacra 17 World Championship. Following the event David said, “It’s quite a relief. It has been nearly 10 years coming, and to finally secure a spot feels amazing.” He added, “It definitely hasn’t fully sunken in yet. It comes in waves.”

With the weight of qualifying for the Olympics now behind them, the pair will join the rest of the US Sailing Olympic team in fine-tuning, coaching, and competing in preparation for the Games, which start in July.

You can read more about David’s Olympic sailing path in Christine Weaver’s interview here. You can learn more and contribute to Sarah and David’s campaign here.

Congratulations to Sarah and David!!

The US will compete in nine of the 10 Olympic classes, having failed to qualify the country in the ILCA 7 class. The following 13 sailors will make up the US Sailing team in France:

Women’s Formula Kite (Women’s Kite): Daniela Moroz (Lafayette, CA)

49er (Men’s Skiff): Ian Barrows & Hans Henken (San Francisco, CA)

Women’s iQFOiL (Women’s Windsurfer): Dominique Stater

ILCA 6 Radial (Women’s One-Person Dinghy): Erika Reineke

Mixed 470 (Mixed Two-Person Dinghy): Stu McNay & Lara Dallman-Weiss

49erFX (Women’s Skiff): Stephanie Roble & Maggie Shea

Men’s iQFOiL (Men’s Windsurfer): Noah Lyons

Men’s Formula Kite (Men’s Kite): Markus Edegran

Nacra 17 (Mixed Two-Person Multihull): Sarah Newberry Moore & David Liebenberg (Richmond, CA)