Sailing at the 2023 Pan American Games – Lightning

The Lightning competition of the sailing events at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago was held from October 30 to November 4 at the Cofradia Nautica del Pacifico.

Points were assigned based on the finishing position in each race (1 for first, 2 for second, etc.). The points were totaled from the top 9 results of the first 10 races, with lower totals being better. If a team was disqualified or did not complete the race, 9 points were assigned for that race (as there were 8 teams in this competition). The top 5 teams at that point competed in the final race, with placings counting double for final score. The team with the lowest total score won.

Allan Terhune Jr., Madeline Baldridge and Sarah Chin from the United States secured the gold medal with seven wins in eleven races, making it the first title for the country in the class since 1999. The home athletes Pedro Robles, Paula Hermán and Carmina Malsch won the silver medal, followed by Javier Conte, María Trinidad Silva and Martina Silva from Argentina. Conte, who was the then two-time class champion, managed to achieve another top-3 finish.^[1]