By Tom Degun

us sailing_team_03-02-12February 3 - The six members of the United States London 2012 Paralympic sailing team have been named with the selections based on performances at the 2012 International Association for Disabled Sailing (IFDS) World Championships and the 2012 Miami OCR, both of which took place in Florida in January.

As the top-scoring eligible American athletes in their respective Paralympic sailing classes, Mark LeBlanc, Jen French, JP Creignou, Paul Callahan, Tom Brown and Bradley Johnson have all qualified for the 2012 Paralympics and will be nominated for selection to the US Paralympic team pending approval from the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), who oversee both the Olympic and Paralympic team selection in America.

LeBlanc will compete in the individual 2.4mR class, French and JP Creignou in the two-person SKUD 18 class, and the trio of Callahan, Brown and Johnson in the sonar (three-person keelboat) event.

LeBlanc made up for the disappointment of missing out on the Beijing 2008 Paralympics by finishing eighth at Miami OCR to book his London 2012 spot.

French and Creignou, both members of St Petersburg Yacht Club, qualified after securing the bronze in the SKUD-18 at Rolex Miami OCR.

They are expected to be strong medal contenders at London 2012, with Creignou having won bronze at the Athens 2004 Paralympics in the sonar class.

Meanwhile, the trio of Callahan, Brown and Johnson, who are all Paralympians with a combined collection of four Paralympic medals, made the grade for London 2012 as they finished sixth in the Miami OCR.

"These six athletes have shown they have the desire required to win Paralympic medals," said US Olympic Sailing Committee chairman Dean Brenner.

"Three of the members have already been to the Games and they bring a great deal of experience and wisdom to the overall team."

The London 2012 Paralympic sailing event will take place on the waters of Weymouth Bay from September 1 to 6, with a total of 80 athletes set to compete across three categories for three gold medals.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]