James Peters using the past to inspire his Olympic future going into Paris 2024

Hayling Island’s James Peters is using the inspiration of his sailing heroes to get back on track after a disappointing result at the Olympic Test Event in Marseille.

The 30-year-old finished ninth in the men’s 49er class alongside sailing partner Fynn Sterritt in France, the pair making their return to the international scene in 2022 after some time away from the sport.

And despite feeling underwhelmed by their result in France, Peters is using the unprecedented experience of learning from the sailing greats of Iain Percy as fuel ahead of a possible Olympic debut next summer.

“It’s super exciting to have had this experience at the test event,” he said. “Just looking at the coaching team, that’s just all of my childhood heroes in one place and being in that environment is inspiring and motivating.

“I was buzzing before the event, and I’m now gutted that it feels we didn’t sail to our potential.

“But there’s loads of good stuff we did do and loads for us to build on ahead of next year.

“I can’t wait to improve.”

Marseille will become a sailing powerhouse next summer as it plays host to all disciplines at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, with the Test Event acting as a prime opportunity for the best sailors from around the world to get a feel for the French waters.

Peters and Sterritt ended their time in France on a high after finishing second in the medal race, but some inconsistent performances and difficult conditions across the week saw the sailors struggle to challenge for the top spots.

The former BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year contender will now look to build on that strong finish at the upcoming World Sailing Championships in The Hague.

“Overall, we’re disappointed as this wasn’t the result we wanted,” said Peters. “But it’s been a fantastic experience to be here, and we’ve had some good moments.

“We won a race, and we had a really strong medal race, sailing it really well but just not quite fast enough to outsail the Dutch who had an outstanding regatta.

“We finished ninth overall, with that second in the medal race pushing us up from 10th.

“I think we’ve had quite an inconsistent regatta; we haven’t been gaining places like we normally do so we have to learn from that and move on now.

“There’s an obvious problem with the downwind boat speed and when that happens you start on the back foot and you’re not in the right headspace to make the right decisions.

“Marseille is a tricky place to sail, it’s hot and the wind moves different here.

“But we move on, and we’ve got the World Sailing Championships soon which is super important.

“We’re confident that we can sail well there but it’s a case of taking the learnings from here and staying in that performing mindset.

“I can already see that we can be a really strong contender at Worlds.”