CLEARWATER, Fla. — Noah Lyons was born and raised in Clearwater.
His sailing career began at the age of six. Now he’s 22 and living out his dream by qualifying for the Paris Olympics and proving that he’s the best windsurfer in the world.
“I am super excited. Words can’t describe how excited I am,” Lyons said. “Not only just to go to the Olympics, but it’s cool to represent the United States, Florida, and Clearwater.”
Clearwater is where Lyons' Olympic journey began.
At 10 years old, he began working with Justin Ahearn, the youth sailing coach at the Clearwater Community Sailing Center.
“I was pretty confident that he would make it to where he is now,” Ahearn said. “There are some other really good American sailors, Geronimo Norris and Alex Temko. It wasn’t a given, but if anyone was going to beat those other guys, it was going to be Noah.”
After graduating from the University of South Florida in 2022, Noah began his Olympic campaign as a full-time athlete. Windsurfing is a very European sport, so his coach lives in Spain.
“There’s not much domestic windsurfing, so we have to travel overseas to Europe mainly to compete,” Lyons said. "I started doing a lot of that. My passport is definitely filling up.”
“Over the past two years, he’s proven to himself that he’s worthy of the international level,” Ahearn added. “Basically, every time he goes to Europe, he exceeds expectations.”
Lyons will be competing in the iQFOiL Windsurfing Class. It’s a new Olympic event, like windsurfing, but instead of floating, it appears you are flying over water because hydrofoils are attached to the bottom of the board.
“The way I like to explain it, normal sailing is in two dimensions, and now foiling, you’re sailing in three dimensions,” Lyons said.
His event begins on July 28 in Marseille, France, on the Mediterranean Sea.
“We’re going to stay up late to watch,” Ahearn said. “We’re very interested in seeing each race. It’s going to be a lot of refreshing the results page.”
