Evolving formats for Olympic inclusion
Published on May 30th, 2024
Sailing has been an Olympic sport since the First Olympiad in 1896, but its position with the International Olympic Committee was teetering at the Rio 2016 Games. The IOC was under pressure for their competition to remain relevant, and demanded that each sport become more dynamic.
Change is harder for events in which their equipment has a massive recreational base, but for the Mixed Multihull event which uses the Nacra 17, every boat is owned by people with Olympic aspirations. The Nacra 17 Class is nimbler to test formats that can attract a brighter light at the Olympic Games.
This will be on display at the 2024 Nacra 17 European Championship which will mark a new era with racing that more closely resembles the SailGP and America’s Cup formats.
The gold fleet racing will be in fleets of 20 boats, with races only 20 minutes long. These races will be windward-leeward, like normal, but the twist comes at the beginning of each gold fleet day, as the fleet will split in half to race two flights of 10 boat races in the SailGP format, including a reaching start.
The final twist concludes the regatta, where all 20 teams will complete a final race that will be fully umpired. After that race, the team finishing in third place will have won the bronze medal, and they, along with places 4-20, will be done their regatta.
The top two teams will then match race for the gold, with the first-place team holding a 1-race advantage on the way to a first-to-win 2-match race. Teams will enter the starting area just like the America’s Cup, with the port entry team gaining early access to the starting box.
The Nacra 17 checks a lot of Olympic-type boxes as a high performance mixed event, and now its testing a regatta format that may heighten the type of excitement which can keep an original Olympic sport alongside new events like Breaking, Surfing, Skateboarding, and Sport Climbing.
Paris 2024 Olympic Sailing Program:
Men’s One Person Dinghy – ILCA 7
Women’s One Person Dinghy – ILCA 6
Mixed Two Person Dinghy – 470
Men’s Skiff – 49er
Women’s Skiff – 49erFX
Men’s Kiteboard – Formula Kite Class
Women’s Kiteboard – Formula Kite Class
Men’s Windsurfing – iQFOiL
Women’s Windsurfing – iQFOiL
Mixed Multihull – Nacra 17
Venue: Marseille, France
Dates: July 28-August 9
Details:
• Paris website: https://www.paris2024.org/en/the-olympic-games-paris-2024/
• World Sailing microsite: https://paris2024.sailing.org/