France complete current Olympic sailing line-up with 49erFX selection

Lili Sebesi and Albane Dubois have been selected to represent France in the 49erFX class at Tokyo 2020.

The duo beat Julie Bossard & Aude Compan to selection.

Sebesi previously campaigned for Rio 2016 with Bossard, missing out on selection to Compan who was sailing with Sarah Steyaert at that time.

Sebesi grew up in Guadeloupe, taking advantage of the ideal sailing conditions in the Antilles to race every weekend, while Albane is a native of the North, in Roubaix, where she sailed until becoming a sailing instructor.

As soon as she returned to France, Sebesi began studying energy mechanics at Polytech Marseille, but continued to race as much as possible, whether in dinghies or match racing.

Still dreaming of the Olympic Games, Sebesi and Albane, a young physiotherapist who had never raced before 2015, joined forces.

With each major championship, their names climbed in the rankings. At the 2017 World Cup Series Final in Santander, Spain, Sebesi & Albane, who had been sailing together for only 15 months, won bronze. They continued to improve and progress, and achieved their highest-ever world championship result with fourth at the 2020 Worlds in Geelong, Australia.

Sebesi said, “This selection for the Olympic Games is the accomplishment of a project that we have both been carrying out for five years, an investment day and night, seven days a week.

“It’s a dream that is coming true. It is a dream that started when I must have been 10 years old, but I never imagined I could achieve it – and then over the years I put a lot of things in place.

“I left Guadeloupe at 16 to join the Marseille hub and gain access to these Olympic supports. We worked a lot to get there. The fact that the Games are being held under strict [COVID-19] conditions does not change much – it may even be a chance not to have our loved ones, we will stay well focused without putting pressure on ourselves.”

Dubois said, “The Olympics is a dream that has come true over the years. Of course I dreamed of participating, possibly as a physiotherapist … But today I can say that I am going as an athlete!

“We clearly have an outsider profile and are quite realistic about the work that remains to be done. We are certainly one of the best crews in offshore wind conditions, but we still have to work on some of our shortcomings. [The pandemic] was difficult because we had reached a very good world level. We are now really putting everything in place to be able to surprise our opponents this summer. ”

Reminder of the athletes selected for the Olympic Games:

RS:X Women: Charline Picon (June 5, 2019)
470 Women: Camille Lecointre & Aloïse Retornaz (September 17, 2019)
470 Men: Kévin Peponnet & Jérémie Mion (September 17, 2019)
Nacra 17: Quentin Delapierre & Manon Audinet (January 9, 2020)
49er: Lucas Rual & Emile Amoros (January 9, 2020)
ILCA 7: Jean-Baptiste Bernaz (March 19, 2020)
RS:X Men: Thomas Goyard (March 19, 2020)
ILCA 6: Marie Bolou (March 19, 2020)
49erFX: Lili Sebesi & Albane Dubois (April 27, 2021)
Finn: still to qualify