Santiago Lange was already famous in the sailing world but the Argentinean achieved global fame when he became the oldest athlete to win a gold medal at Rio 2016. Not only was his age impressive - 54 two summers ago - but he had survived lung cancer less than a year earlier. Simply to make it to the start line of the Games was impressive enough, but then to win the gold medal with his crew Cecilia Saroli Carranze after such a dramatic Nacra 17 medal race was jaw-dropping.
You might have thought that Lange would want to bow out at the top of the sport but he immediately stated his intention to go round again for a Tokyo 2020 campaign. The Hempel Sailing World Championships have just begun in Aarhus, Denmark and the Nacra 17 fleet starts competition on Sunday. This marks the halfway point of the four-year cycle between Rio and Tokyo, and this regatta is a first opportunity for sailors to qualify their nation for those coveted spots at the Games in Japan.
Lange and Saroli Carranza are unlikely to be considered favourites, although they'll be in the mix. Lange's time is split a number of ways this season, and he admits the Nacra campaign has been a bit compromised. "I also do a TP52 campaign and for me this is a huge responsibility because I am involved in a really good team (tactician on Azzurra, runner-up at the recent Rolex TP52 World Championship) and we need to perform. In the Nacra, our priority is to qualify for the Games this year if we can."
The Argentinean team was critical of the switch of the Nacra 17 from a semi-foiler from the last Olympic cycle to the full-foiling package being used now. Lange felt that the cost of upgrade was prohibitively expensive for what had already been a very costly boat in the Rio cycle. But now that full-foiling is here to stay, he has fully embraced the new challenge.
"I think it's fun because it's something new to learn, especially downwind. Before in under 10 knots of wind, there was a big split in the downwind. Now, even in 7 knots we are already foiling, and so we go deep angles and it is a lot less gybing than before. There's a lot to learn with this new setup, and it's really interesting. But I like any sailing boat. Once I get in a boat, I have fun with it, whatever it is. It's all about learning and trying to beat the others."
That said, some boats are more fun than others and Lange has always been attracted by speed. He was a key member of Artemis Racing over the last two America's Cups and had already won two bronze medals in the Tornado, the old Olympic catamaran. "I like fast boats. I love catamarans and all the development work. Somehow I have managed to sail every Olympic cycle in a different boat, because even if I did three cycles in a Tornado, one was the old Tornado with single trapeze, then the Tornado with double trapeze and gennaker, and then the Tornado with the carbon rig. Now it is the Nacra, which again has changed a lot since the last Games. I've been in a lot of cycles, developing boats and learning new boats and this is a huge motivation for me."
Foiling has come on leaps and bounds in the past five years, ever since the foiling AC72 giant catamarans stormed across San Francisco Bay in the 2013 America's Cup. So what does Lange think about the foiling package on the Nacra 17? "I think we [the class} rushed it, and looking ahead, the learning curve of foiling, of any foiling boat nowadays or even windsurfing, is very steep. So I think we picked a boat that is foiling but which does not use the best of today's knowledge. I don't get angry with whoever takes the decision, it's just my thoughts of how the sport should be seen."
The Nacra 17 has been given a place in the Olympic line-up through to 2024 which, despite his reservations about the boat, Lange feels is a good thing. "I think the sport - in regards of classes - needs stability. That's the main goal. I want to see young people sailing and if we change the boats every time, we lose the opportunity for us to sell our old boat to a younger sailor, and he gets a lot of knowledge with that boat. And if we keep changing the boat, it's good for me, because we have the structure, we have the knowledge, but I think we will struggle to get young people. I think we are putting too much effort in deciding classes, and I think all the effort should be given to promote the sport.
"We need to work harder to get more spectators watching the racing. Without that, it doesn't matter if we sail a foiling Nacra or normal Nacra, we need to get people to see the sport. Even in our marinas, people would love to come and see us rigging and racing the boats. It is hard for the people in Argentina to watch our racing. Our medal has a lot of impact in Argentina and people ask me where they can see the races, and they know we are competing thanks to following our social media, but they cannot see the racing. And I think we have to put all the effort in showing our beautiful sport to the rest of the people."
Clearly Lange is as passionate about the sport as ever, even now in his mid-fifties. To be competing at the top level at his age seems extraordinary to most people. But not to Lange. "At the moment, I don't feel that age is limiting me to perform 100%. I just need to recover from my illness and get physically a little bit fitter, and that's my goal for this year. I've been pushing very hard with different priorities, so I don't my find enough time to go to the gym. But apart from that, I feel good. I am not giving anything away by being my age and sailing in the Nacra."
by Andy Rice
SSL Press Officer since 2015