Barrows & Henken Win Bronze at the Paris 2024 Olympics, First USA Medal in Sailing since Rio 2016
After five days of racing on international sport’s biggest stage, Team USA’s Ian Barrows (St. Thomas, USVI) and Hans Henken (San Francisco, CA) are bringing home a bronze medal in the Men’s Skiff (49er) event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. This is the US Sailing Team’s first Olympic medal in sailing since Rio 2016 and Barrows and Henken’s first Olympic appearance.
Ian Barrows and Hans Henken celebrate after winning a bronze medal in the Men’s Skiff event at the Paris 2024 Olympics. © Sailing Energy / US Sailing Team
“I’m speechless, I still can’t believe it,” said Barrows. “I’m really happy, especially for Hans as he’s been doing this for a really long time. Our team is amazing and we couldn’t have done it without each and every one of them.”
“We put in so much hard work to get here and to have it all come together in this last race is just amazing,” said Henken. “Ian and I had the goal of having a chance in the medal race – we knew that’s a level that we had. Just to be there felt like an achievement in its own right, and to finish with this bronze medal is really the cherry on top.”
For the final race of the Paris 2024 Olympics, the pair started towards the pin end of the starting line, securing their choice of the left side for the first upwind. Their close rivals, Dickson and Waddilove of Ireland, were OCS and forced to return to the starting line, which opened the door for Barrows and Henken to inch closer to the bronze medal position. Staying close to the front of the fleet, Barrows/Henken rounded the first upwind mark in 6th. They put the pedal to the metal on the downwind, playing a great leg and picking up two boats, closing the gap with the Swiss. They stayed close to the Swiss on the second upwind, overtaking them at a close mark rounding and soaring into fourth for the last race of the Paris 2024 Olympics.
“It’s great to see years of hard work, dedication and commitment come to fruition with the team to securing a bronze medal at the Olympics,” said Marcus Lynch, US Sailing Team High Performance Director. “Our recent medal victory, the first since Rio, is a testament to the incredible team atmosphere we’ve cultivated. The cohesion and dedication of the athletes, coaches, and staff were crucial to our success. We’ve focussed on creating a professional, productive and constructive culture for our athletes, putting the right people in place and creating an environment where every athlete can thrive. The USOPC recognized our potential and generously provided significant additional funding to support our athletes on the ground in Marseille. This support, combined with our strong team dynamics, has truly set us apart. Our success is a collective effort, and we are grateful for the unwavering support from the USOPC and the entire US Sailing community.”
“It’s been a long time coming and lots of work in the making,” said US Sailing Team 49er Coach Mark Asquith, who has been with the team since 2017. “The messages coming in as it became clear they won the medal were really special. All the support for the guys from the rest of the 49er athletes back home was pretty amazing. It means a lot not just for us, but for the whole squad in this group effort. Ian and Hans always look for the positives, they always look for something constructive in each race and training session, and that’s what’s carried them to where they are now.”
“It has been an incredible journey, those two never cease to amaze us,” said Charlie McKee, 49er coach and Sydney 2000 Olympic bronze medalist in the Men’s Skiff. “There was so much pressure on them over the past few days, and they handled it perfectly.”
Barrows and Henken are the first Americans to bring home a medal in sailing since Caleb Paine’s Bronze at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
Ian Barrows grew up in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, where he began his sailing career in Optis. Quickly, he acquired a passion for the sport and transitioned to larger dinghies — 420s, Lasers, and Bytes. He competed nationally in high school competitions and internationally on the youth sailing stage. In 2017, Barrows graduated from Yale with a degree in Economics. While sailing at Yale, Barrows helped lead the team to eight National Championship titles and was named a four-time collegiate All-American and College Sailor of the Year in 2017.
After college, Barrows shifted his attention to an Olympic campaign, inspired by his brother, Thomas, who competed in two Olympic Games (2008 and 2016) and coached the Men’s 470 team at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
A California native, Hans Henken began sailing at six-years-old in the Naples Sabot. He has competed at the highest levels of the sport since he was a junior sailor primarily racing 29ers, 49ers, the International Moth and most recently the hydrofoiling F50 on the global SailGP circuit.
Henken has spent the majority of his career competing on the U.S. Sailing Team in the 49er class with his goal of competing at the Olympics. From 2011 to 2015, he was a member and captain of the Stanford University Sailing Team and in his senior year was named Stanford Conference Male Athlete of the Year during the Cardinal’s most successful season. While competing with the Cardinal, he earned a master’s and bachelor’s degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, an invaluable resource to complement his sailing pedigree.
Barrows teamed up with Henken in 2021 with sights set on Paris 2024 and secured their ticket to Marseille by winning the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Sailing in Miami in January of 2024.
