After graduating from Mounds View High School, Shoreview native Lara Dallman-Weiss was fully prepared to go to the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire on a running scholarship. She put down a deposit for school and even had a roommate lined up before having a change of heart.

“I had this gut feeling that I was doing myself a disservice if I didn’t do the scary thing,” Dallman-Weiss said. “I called my dad and he told me I could do it as long as I fixed the situation myself.”

That’s exactly what Dallman-Weiss did. She made the necessary phone calls, packed her belongings and moved away from home.

All to pursue her passion for sailing at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Fla.

“My coach was stoked when I told him I was coming,” Dallman-Weiss said. “That’s where I got really competitive with it.”

That competitiveness has landed her back at the highest level. After qualifying for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Dallman-Weiss is back for more at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. She will start competition in mixed dinghy at approximately 5:05 a.m. CT Friday.

Not bad for a kid who got her start in sailing as a 6-year-old at White Bear Yacht Club. She still has fond memories of traveling around the Twin Cities for races after her dad taught her how to sail. Maybe a little surprising considering she wasn’t the biggest fan of the sport at first.

“I didn’t like being in the boat alone,” Dallman-Weiss said with a laugh. “Eventually they learned that I actually liked it when I was in the boat with other people.”

As much as she started to enjoy sailing, Dallman-Weiss gravitated to other sports in her youth, and it wasn’t until she got to Eckerd College that she started to see a future for herself in sailing. Now she’s a two-time Olympian, readying herself to compete in the mixed dinghy alongside Stu McNay, a five-time Olympian himself.

“I have a different confidence now,” Dallman-Weiss said. “It’s about us leaning on each other and enjoying it as much as possible and seeing where we end up.”

Asked last week about her goals, Dallman-Weiss tried her best to keep things in perspective. As much as she would love to be standing on the podium in the end, she also plans to soak in the moment while her hair is blowing in the wind.

“I’ve reached the pinnacle of the sport,” she said. “I can be really proud of myself and enjoy every bit of it.”

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