World Sailing fully embrace IOC Olympic Agenda 2020 with proposed events for the Paris 2024 Olympic Sailing Competition that are gender equal, youthful, universal and include four mixed events following the decisions made at the 2018 Mid-Year Meeting in London, Great Britain.
From 10-15 May 2018, more than 200 delegates met in London for the meetings of the Board, Events Committee, Equipment Committee and World Sailing’s Council.
Discussions on the Paris 2024 Olympic Events ebbed and flowed and the sports stakeholders sought to ensure that sailing continues to maximise its impact in the sporting world.
After having received more than fifty submissions it came down to the choice of two submissions, both including four mixed events, the difference being a mixed keelboat event versus a mixed singlehanded dinghy event.
After a full democratic process, World Sailing’s Council confirmed the five new Events for Paris 2024, following the confirmation of the five earlier this year, as:
- Men’s Windsurfer
- Women’s Windsurfer
- New Event, Mixed One-Person Dinghy
- New Event, Mixed Two Person Dinghy
- New Event, Mixed Kiteboard
They join the following Events and their Equipment on the Paris 2024 slate:
- Men’s One Person Dinghy – Laser*
- Women’s One Person Dinghy – Laser Radial*
- Women’s Skiff – 49erFX
- Men’s Skiff – 49er
- Mixed Two Person Multihull – Nacra 17
* subject to separate equipment re-evaluation
Combined, the full list of Events ensures an exciting new future for Olympic sailing that will enable sailors with the broadest range of physiques to compete across a diverse set of Events and Equipment.
Kiteboarding will attract new sailors into the sport and engage and inspire them. At the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games, Kiteboarding will feature on the Olympic programme for the first time.
The Mixed Two-Person Multihull, Nacra 17, was adopted for the Rio 2016 quadrennial and proved to showcase the talents of both male and female sailors side by side. At Rio 2016, the competition gave spectators a thrilling finale as Santiago Lange and Cecillia Carranza Saroli (ARG) sealed an emotional gold medal.
The introduction of a Mixed Two Person Dinghy will bring male and female competitors together again on the same piece of Equipment to provide another challenge.
The Mixed One-Person Dinghy will feature male and female sailors racing on separate boats and will require teamwork for transferring knowledge for a team effort, to achieve the ultimate glory – an Olympic gold medal.
At Tokyo 2020 World Sailing will have full gender equity in athlete numbers, however the new Events proposed for Paris 2024 will ensure gender equity at an Event level for the first time.
The Formats and Equipment for the new Events will be discussed towards the latter part of the year at the 2018 Annual Conference. The IOC will make its final decisions on the Paris 2024 Olympic Games programme in December 2020.
During the discussions, the introduction of an Offshore Event was put forward and supported by numerous Council members. Working in close collaboration with major Oceanic events such as the Volvo Ocean Race, World Sailing has put offshore racing high on its agenda and recently announced that the inaugural Offshore World Championship would be held in 2019.
The Championship is a new annual offshore double-handed mixed competition between nations, featuring 20 boats. It is designed to cater to the fast-growing double-handed offshore community worldwide. An important goal is to engage with new countries by providing turnkey equipment ready to use at the event venue as well as a training academy.
World Sailing will continue to work with the offshore community and event organisers to ensure the discipline continues to grow.