Sailing competitions at the 2024 Summer Olympics were held from July 28 to August 8 at Marseille Marina. The number of sailors competing across ten different events at these Games has been reduced from 350 to 330, with an equal distribution between men and women. Furthermore, several significant changes are instituted in the sailing program for Paris 2024 to reinforce gender equality and vast diversity among the nations in the qualifying process.

Medal events and equipment For the Men's Single-handed Dinghy event, the equipment will be the ILCA 7 For the Women's Single-handed Dinghy event, the equipment will be the ILCA 6 For the Mixed Double-handed Dinghy event, the equipment will be the 470 For the Mixed Foiling Catamaran event, the equipment will be the Nacra 17 For the Men's Skiff event, the equipment will be the 49er For the Women's Skiff event, the equipment will be the 49erFX For the Men's Windsurfer event, the equipment will be the IQFoil. For the Women's Windsurfer event, the equipment will be the IQFoil. For the Men's Kiteboarding event, the equipment will be the Formula Kite. For the Women's Kiteboarding event, the equipment will be the Formula Kite.

Events Selection Controversy Events were top of the agenda again with Kiteboarding, Windsurfing, Keelboats, Match Racing and Offshore Racing all looking for inclusion in the games. Sailing took the approach of introducing a number of new mixed events to reach gender balance while still showcasing as many disciplines of the sport as possible. The two person boats of the 470 and Nacra 17 and yet to be chosen Offshore were going to be mixed. In addition and more controversially the single person Kiteboards was going to be two person mixed gender event.

However the IOC had concerns over Mixed Offshore, a format involving competition taking place over days, something not done in Olympics before in any sport. France were the leading nation for short handed offshore sailing with the Solitaire du Figaro and Vendee Globe so were keen to have the event.

When the IOC put World Sailing events up for review rather than accepting their recommendation, they choose to carry on backing their initial choice stating "The Mixed Offshore Event was democratically selected by our members and remains our first-choice event for Paris 2024; we have made this clear to the IOC and will continue to do so."

It then after direction that it was likely not to get it's choice took the unusual step of proposing alternative events should the IOC not endorse its recommendation. The IOC dropping the mixed offshore event allowed for kiteboarding to have a male and female competition rather than a combined event.

Event Management The weather was very light and variable during the second week of the event, making race management difficult. Windsurfing and kitesurfing in particular had a significantly reduced qualification series. In addition, there was some abandonment of races both during the race, and in the case of kiteboarding, at the start.

Overview

Qualification

The number of sailors competing across ten different events has been reduced from 350 to 330, with an equal distribution between men and women. Aiming for vast gender equality and diversity among the nations, the International Federation, World Sailing, has ratified several amendments to the qualifying process.

The qualification period started at the 2023 Sailing World Championships in The Hague, Netherlands, where 107 places, about forty percent of the total quota, had been awarded to the highest-ranked NOCs across ten different sailing events. Seven places will be distributed to sailors representing the highest-finishing, not previously qualified NOCs at each of the 2024 Men's ILCA 7 and Women's ILCA 6 World Championships. Each ILCA continental qualifiers will award two quota places with the exception of Asia, which will award one quota place at the 2023 Asian Games in China and two quota places at the Asian Olympic qualifier in Thailand.

The remainder of the total quota was attributed to the eligible MNAs through the 2024 Last Chance Regatta in Hyères, France (39 boats in total) and as part of the World Sailing Emerging Nations Program (two boats per gender each in windsurfing and dinghy). Four quota places (two per gender) were entitled to the NOCs competing in the men's ILCA 7 and women's ILCA 6 under the Tripartite Commission.

As the host country, France reserves one quota place in each of the ten sailing classes.

Classes (equipment) Class Type Event Gender Sailors Trapeze Mainsail Jib/Genoa Spinnaker Classes Intro. Event Intro. IQFoil Windfoiling Fleet Female 1 – + – – 2024 IQFoil Windfoiling Fleet Male 1 – + – – 2024 Formula Kite Kiteboard Fleet Female 1 – + – – 2024 Formula Kite Kiteboard Fleet Male 1 – + – – 2024 ILCA 6 Dinghy Fleet Female 1 – + – – 2008 ILCA 7 Dinghy Fleet Male 1 – + – – 1996 Various 470 Dinghy Fleet Mixed 2 1 + + + 1976 2024 49er Skiff Fleet Male 2 2 + + + 2000 Various 49erFX Skiff Fleet Female 2 2 + + + 2016 Nacra 17 Multihull Fleet Mixed 2 2 + + + 2016

Participating NOCs

In total, 65 NOCs except Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN), participated at the sport of sailing.

host

Competition schedule Planned Schedule

+Schedule Event Day 2 Day 3,4,5,6,7,8,9 Day 10,11,12,13,14 Sun 28 Mon 29 Tue 30 Wed 31 Thu 1 Fri 2 Sat 3 Sun 4 Mon 5 Tue 6 Wed 7 Thu 8 Fri 9Men's classesIQFoil S1,2 S3,4,5,6 S7,8,9,10 S11,12,13,14 S15,16,17,18 QF, SF, F Res. Formula Kite S1,2,3,4 S5,6,7,8 S9.10,11,12 S13,14,15,16 SF, F Res.ILCA 7 S1,2 S3,4 S5,6 S7,8 S9,10 MR Res. Res. 49er S1,2,3 S4,5,6 S7,8,9 S10,11,12 MR Res. Women's classesIQFoil S1,2 S3,4,5,6 S7,8,9,10 S11,12,13,14 S15,16,17,18 QF, SF, F Res. Formula Kite S1,2,3,4 S5,6,7,8 S9.10,11,12 S13,14,15,16 SF, F Res.ILCA 6 S1,2 S3,4 S5,6 S7,8 S9,10 MR Res. Res. 49er FX S1,2,3 S4,5,6 S7,8,9 S10,11,12 MR Res. Mixed classes470 S1,2 S3,4 S5,6 S7,8 S9.10 MR Res. Res.Nacra 17 S1,2,3 S4,5,6 S7,8,9 S10,11,12 MR Res. Res.

Actual Schedule +Schedule Event Day 2 Day 3,4,5,6,7,8,9 Day 10,11,12,13,14 Sun 28 Mon 29 Tue 30 Wed 31 Thu 1 Fri 2 Sat 3 Sun 4 Mon 5 Tue 6 Wed 7 Thu 8 Fri 9Men's classesIQFoil S1 S2,3,4,5,6 S7,8,9,10 S11,12,13 QF, SF, F Formula Kite S1,2,3,4 S5 S6,7 SA, SB, SC, F1 F2, F3ILCA 7 S1,2 S3,4 S5,6 S7,8 MR 49er S1,2,3 S4,5,6 S7,8,9 S10,11,12 MR Women's classesIQFoil S1,2 S3,4,5,6,7 S8,9,10,11 S12,13,14 QF, SF, F Formula Kite S1,2,3,4 S5,6 SA, SB, F1, F2 ILCA 6 S1 S2,3 S4,5,6 S7,8 S9 MR 49erFX S1,2,3 S4,5,6 S7,8,9 S10,11,12 MR Mixed classes470 S1,2 S3 S4 S5,6 S7,8 MR Nacra 17 S1,2,3 S4,5,6 S7,8,9 S10,11,12 MR

Medal summary A total of 30 medals were won by 19 NOC's.

Medal table

Men's events iQFoil Formula Kite Laser 49er Diego BotínFlorián Trittel Isaac McHardieWilliam McKenzie Ian BarrowsHans Henken

Women's events iQFoil Formula Kite Laser radial 49erFX Odile van Aanholt<br/ >Annette Duetz Vilma Bobeck<br/ >Rebecca Netzler Sarah Steyaert<br/ >Charline Picon

Mixed events 470 Lara VadlauLukas Mähr Keiju OkadaMiho Yoshioka Anton DahlbergLovisa KarlssonNacra 17 Ruggero TitaCaterina Banti Mateo MajdalaniEugenia Bosco Micah WilkinsonErica Dawson

See also Sailing at the 2022 Asian Games Sailing at the 2023 Pan American Games

References