Photo by Abner Kingman
As a youngster learning to sail at the Palm Beach Sailing Club and Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club in Maine, Ian MacDiarmid loved to go fast.
That need for speed served him well as he began racing competitively at age 7. Now 23, the U.S. Sailing Team athlete from Delray Beach is an Olympic hopeful, campaigning for a spot on the team in the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Born in San Diego and raised in Delray Beach, MacDiarmid has competitive sailing in his blood. His father Blake was a competitive sailboat racer. “Through him I have been around boats and the water since I could walk,” says MacDiarmid. “Then it very quickly became my own thing.”
A standout early on in the Optimist dinghy class, he quickly advanced to the United States Opti National Team, representing the U.S. in seven international championships by age 13 before making the jump from youth classes to the Olympic side.
Through the Olympic Development Program based in Miami, MacDiarmid was partnered with Andrew Mollerus.
At 6’2”, MacDiarmid is the crew position, providing the power and muscle, while Mollerus is the tactical helm. Cantilevered out over the water, racing through the waves in their harnesses, the sailors make it look easy, but for the duration of their four to six-hour races, every muscle and brain cell is working at maximum capacity. Keeping fit for racing combines strength training and aerobics with puzzle games for brain agility. Staying focused and mentally sharp is as important as being strong and flexible.
The pair narrowly missed qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 games. Their best performance to date is 14th at the 2020 World Championships in Australia. To make it to Paris, the U.S. has to earn its place at the upcoming 2023 Sailing World Championships in the Netherlands.
The pair spent the last year and a half “hammering down how to jump into the top 10,” MacDiarmid says, as they prepared for the 2021 World Championships in Oman in November. “Once you have that jump into top 10 and have a gap behind you, it takes the weight off your shoulders.”
“One of the things we believe very strongly is that if you’re not getting the results you want in the four years before, you’re not going to perform the way you want to at the Olympics,” MacDiarmid says.