Olympics is on radar for West Wales sailing star

MICHAEL Beckett found solace on the water during Covid and is now using his new-found skills on the road to the Paris Olympic Games in 2024.

The 27-year-old from Solva channelled his energies into his sailing during the pandemic as a way to knuckle down and improve his efforts.

With the Paris Olympics in mind, he has already seen an impressive change in form, winning the 2021 European Championships and Trofeo Princesa Sofía this year.

And with the added support of a strengthened training group last winter, Beckett is in prime position to challenge for that allimportant Olympic spot.

He said: “The world paused and it was a really interesting period for me in that summer where you didn’t really travel and didn’t really hang out with anyone or have fun.

“I basically just spent the whole time sailing without the pressure of doing any events.

“But I think in that period I got significantly better as a result of having all that time without any events or distractions.

“It was just Elliot (Hanson) and I and we did an awful lot of sparring together and training together in Weymouth.

“When I came back to doing events after that, I suddenly found that I was a lot better basically.”

Beckett has thanked his closeknit training group of ILCA 7 sailors at British Sailing’s base on his path to success as the athletes encouraged and helped each other with the mental and strategic side of racing.

He added: “We didn’t just train well and push each other, but when we finished a training session we had a very nice honest chat about it and we would share ideas.

“Coaching is great, but if one of your competitors is willing to tell you what they were thinking when you did such a move and you can kind of swap ideas, it’s a really great way to learn.

“The tactics and strategy of racing is best compared to a chess game, probably.

“It’s that kind of knowing your opponent and trying to second guess their next move while they’re trying to guess your next move.”

Beckett took pride in his win at the Princess Sofia regatta, competing against some of the top sailors in the world who had returned to competition following the Tokyo Olympics.

■ The British Sailing Team are the most successful national Olympic sailing team of all time and will proudly fly the flag for Great Britain at Paris 2024.