Head out to Jupiter or Juno Beach on any sunny day, and you’ll be greeted by a colorful array of sails stretched out across the blues skies along our coastline. If you’re lucky, somewhere among the sailing enthusiasts skimming across the ocean you’ll spot U.S. Olympian Markus Edegran. You’ll have to look quickly though: traveling at a pace of up to 50 miles per hour, he’s hard to keep up with.
In January, 30-year-old Edegran beat out a field of Americans to win the U.S. Olympic Trials in Miami. Then in April, he placed fourth at the Last Chance Regatta in France, qualifying him for a spot on the U.S. Olympic Sailing Team (men’s kiteboarding is categorized as one of the 10 sailing events). Formula Kite was added as an Olympic sport for the first time this year, making Edegran the first American ever to compete in the men’s category. (Californian Daniela Moroz was the kiteboarder on the women’s team.) In August, Edegran took to the Mediterranean, competing for the gold at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.
The journey to the Olympics was decades in the making for Edegran, who began sailing on the Hudson River in New York when he was 8 years old as well as in South Florida, where his family had a vacation home at the time. “My dad grew up sailing, so I was put in summer camp on the water,” he recalls. He started competing when he was 11, sailing an Optimist. Commonly known as an Opti, the small, single-handed dinghy is one of the most popular boats for youth sailing competitions.
Throughout his youth, Edegran progressed to different levels of competition, sailing 420, FJ, and ILCA class boats. After graduating from high school in 2012, he spent two years on the intercollegiate sailing team at the United States Naval Academy in Maryland, where he competed with his older brother, Lukas, now a Navy pilot. Edegran transferred to St. Mary’s College of Maryland in 2014 and joined its sailing team, graduating in 2016 with a degree in economics and moving to South Florida full-time.
In 2015, his brother had introduced him to kiteboarding, and the two would board together from time to time. For Edegran, it was just another fun sport for a while. But as soon as he heard kiteboarding was going to be added to the 2024 Olympics, he set his sights on earning a spot on the U.S. team.
He began training with other kiteboarders, often hitting our local beaches but rotating to different locations every few weeks to experience various seas and weather conditions. On a typical day, he’d spend two or three hours on the water, a couple of hours in the gym, then watch videos of his performance to debrief and figure out what he needed to adjust. The hard work paid off: in 2020, he became the top U.S. kiteboarder, finishing sixth at the worldwide Hydrofoil Pro Tour, and placed first in a couple of domestic tournaments in 2021 and 2022. Earning a spot at the 2024 Paris Olympics is the latest achievement for Edegran, who is currently ranked fourth in the world. “I’m proud to represent the country at this debut for kiteboarding as a sport,” he says.
When we caught up with Edegran for this story back in May, he was still home in Florida preparing for Paris, hitting the local beaches with the many kiteboarders he’s gotten to know over the years. “You see the same people, who come whenever they can squeeze in some time,” he says of the local kiting community. “Everyone shares the same passion. It’s pretty cool.”
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