Bidding open for World Sailing Champs

World Sailing is inviting bids to host the next World Sailing Championships, an event that occurs every four years and brings together all Classes that will compete in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.

The first World Sailing Championships were first held in Cadiz in 2003 and have been staged in every Olympic cycle since. Aside from awarding Class World Titles, it is also the main qualifying event for the Olympic Games.

The 2023 edition in The Netherlands attracted over 1100 athletes from 80 countries and was allegedly watched by a global broadcast audience of millions. This year’s event was also the first edition to include Para events.

The seventh World Sailing Championships – to be held between the Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games – will now bring a new opportunity for potential event hosts to bid for a split event.

Due to the logistical challenges for the Host along with its financial and organizational requirements to stage the World Sailing Championships, World Sailing has agreed that potential hosts can bid for one of two sessions of the event.

The tentative plan is for the first session to be between October and December 2026 and the second to be between July and September 2027. To see the Classes for each session, click here.

“This will be the first time the event has been offered to two hosts, and that creates an opportunity for more of our Member National Authorities to host sailing’s greatest championships,” said David Graham, World Sailing Chief Executive Officer.

“As we saw with the 2023 event in The Hague, hosting the World Sailing Championships creates a superb platform to promote a city or region to a global audience while also providing a Member National Authority with an unmatched opportunity to develop sailing in their country.”

Further details on hosting the seventh Sailing World Championships can be obtained by downloading the bid document or by emailing bid@sailing.org.

The deadline for expressions of interest to host the seventh Sailing World Championships is November 30, 2023 with final bids required by March 30, 2024. A final decision will be made by the World Sailing Board in May 2024.

Source: World Sailing