Hong Kong ILCA 7 sailor Nicholas Halliday won the Asian Sailing Championships & Asian Continental Paris 2024 Olympic Qualifier held in Pattaya, Thailand, and successfully sealed his place at the Paris Olympics. He is the first Hong Kong sailor to qualify for the Olympics by finishing 1st in the Olympic qualifications. He is also the second Hong Kong sailor to qualify for the Olympics throughout the Olympic qualifications after Stephanie Norton. This is also a consecutive year for Hong Kong sailors to qualify for the Olympic event!
Nicholas performed stably in the Asian Sailing Championships & Asian Continental Paris 2024 Olympic Qualifier. He secured first place since the second racing day. He won the 1st place in one of the 10 races and 2nd place in 3 races. Nicholas finished 1st in the ILCA 7 class with 36 points, leaving the 2nd-placed Thai sailor Arthit Mikhail Romanyk by a 3 points difference. In the ILCA classes, the top two sailors in the qualifier can qualify for the Olympics. Both Nicholas and the Thai sailor have qualified for the ILCA7 single handed dinghy event of the Paris Olympics.
Nicholas has represented Hong Kong in the Asian Games twice, in the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia and the Asian Games in Hangzhou in September this year. At this year’s Asian Games in Hangzhou, the medal race on the last day was canceled due to lack of wind. Nicholas finished 4th overall and missed the medals.
The Sailing Federation of Hong Kong, China is very proud that our sailor has once again qualified for the Olympic Games. The efforts of our sailors have once again been rewarded, and at the same time it proves the extraordinary strength of Hong Kong sailors. We would like to thank the Head Coach Harris Tsolis and Coach Vagelis Chimonas for their coaching, the Hong Kong Sports Institute for providing training opportunities, the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China for supporting and not to mention Nicholas’ persistence and hard work, which makes our entire sailing community proud.
The qualifier is just the beginning, we look forward to Nicholas’ performance on the stage of the 2024 Paris Olympics!
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