Daniela Moroz became the first U.S. sailor to make the 2024 Olympic team, and the first ever to qualify in the new Olympic event of formula kite.
Moroz, 22 years old and a six-time world champion, earned her spot by placing third in the Olympic test event in Marseille in July and then fifth at the world championships this month in the Netherlands.
In kiteboarding, athletes are propelled across the surface of the water while holding a kite to utilize the power of the wind, reaching speeds up to 45 miles per hour as they glide.
Moroz, raised in the San Francisco Bay area, won her first of six consecutive world titles at age 15 in 2016.
Her parents were windsurfers. Her mom competed while pregnant with Moroz.
At the Tokyo Games, the best U.S. sailing finish across all events was ninth.
It was the first time the U.S. didn’t have a top-eight sailing finish at an Olympics to which it sent sailors, according to Olympedia.org.
NBC Olympic research contributed to this report.
Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated Moroz’s finish at this year’s world championships. She was fifth, not seventh.
