College of Charleston coach wins bronze at 2024 Paris Olympics

MARSEILLE, France (WCBD) – An assistant sailing coach at the College of Charleston is leaving the Paris Olympics as a winner after Friday morning’s men’s skiff event.

Ian Burrows and his partner Hans Henken earned bronze medals in the Skiff 49er class final.

The duo competed in 12 races over four days, finishing in the top 10 in all, climbing the rankings in each race. Barrows and Henken beat out Team Ireland in the final race to secure the bronze.

Henken’s sister, Paris, sailed at the College as a student and holds the title of the school’s first female Olympian ever.

 Spain’s Diego Botin and Florian Trittel finished with the gold, while New Zealand’s Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie won silver.

“Ian and I have been training for the past five years for this, and we knew our chances were to go for bronze or silver. Putting ourselves in medal contention and going into that last race was what we wanted,” Henken told 49er.org. “A lot of things had to go our way, but we also had to execute at the highest level and we were able to get both today, and that feels amazing.”