Lauren Wilson Vies for L.A. 2028, After Two Decades Away From Elite Sailing
As we sail into the Mother’s Day weekend (yes, they deserve a whole weekend, and more!) and reflect on the lack of sailing events on the calendar for Sunday — see today’s ‘LL “No Sailing on Mother’s Day,” we thought it a great time to share a sailing-mom story. Lauren Wilson is training for the 2028 L.A. Olympics while raising two children, and a husband (sorry fellas, but we all know how this goes 😄). Story below.
In most sports, athletes reach their peak in their late 20s and mid-30s, and it’s all downhill from there. That’s not the case for US Sailing Olympic hopeful Lauren Wilson, a 41-year-old mother of two who is training for the 2028 L.A. Olympic Games in the ILCA 6 class.
Wilson’s parents met when they were high school sailors — the sport is in her blood. She grew up sailing on her family’s 40-footer, and started at sailing camps when she was 6 years old. While she was dubious at first, her first summer had her hooked. After she graduated from Sabots in Southern California, the ILCA 6 came around at the perfect time. Having raced the ILCA 6 (formerly Laser Radials) throughout high school, the highlight of her career to that point was a second- place finish at the US Nationals.
By the early 2000s, Wilson was one of America’s top ILCA 6 sailors and a top contender to represent the US in the Olympics’ European Dinghy class. With the ILCA 6 not yet an Olympic class, US Sailing encouraged the teenager to switch to the European Dinghy class and make a run at the Olympics. Prior to starting her four years at USC, Wilson was with the US Sailing Team in Athens, Greece, ahead of the 2004 Olympics. While there, she realized her late teens might not be the right time for her Olympic campaign. At a team dinner, Wilson and fellow USC sailor Mikey Anderson were discussing their return to school, two weeks into the term. “We were in Athens and we were going to miss the drop period and couldn’t buy our books. And the guys at the table were like, man, I haven’t bought books since 1984.” Wilson and Mikey looked at each other, realizing that was the year they were born. Their fellow Olympic hopefuls were “old.” But for Wilson it was also an “aha” moment. “It’s not gymnastics; your career isn’t over. In fact, there’s an element of smarts and experience that really lends to success in sport and in life. It didn’t have to be right now,” she continues.
