Will Olympic sailing shift to the wing sail?

Through a partnership with World Sailing, the Global Wingsports Association (GWA) oversees every aspect of wing-foil-, wing-surf-, wing-board-sports, and any other sport in which a wing is used on water, land or snow.

When kites became an event at the Paris 2024 Olympics, it was a big jump into the future, and those events will continue for LA 2028. But the Men’s and Women’s Kite events are under review for Brisbane 2032, and the shift toward the hand-held wing sail is a strong possibility.

There are four GWA disciplines – Surf-Freestyle, FreeFly-Slalom, Wave, and Big Air – with Surf-Freestyle including the expression format where competitors surf waves or swells and perform air tricks using the given water conditions.

For the moment, the USA is pretty good in this discipline. Zoe Trudeau (USA) won the final event of the season with Luca Vuillermet (USA) as the men’s runner-up, while the World Championship title was decided by scoring four events, with Chris MacDonald (USA) finishing third overall in the men’s division.

Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Sailing Program (July 16-28):
First Week – July 16-20
Men’s Kiteboard – Formula Kite Class – Long Beach, CA
Women’s Kiteboard – Formula Kite Class – Long Beach, CA
Men’s Windsurfing – iQFOiL – Long Beach, CA
Women’s Windsurfing – iQFOiL – Long Beach, CA

Second Week – July 23-28
Men’s One Person Dinghy – ILCA 7 – Los Angeles, CA
Women’s One Person Dinghy – ILCA 6 – Los Angeles, CA
Mixed Two Person Dinghy – 470 – Los Angeles, CA
Men’s Skiff – 49er – Los Angeles, CA
Women’s Skiff – 49erFX – Los Angeles, CA
Mixed Multihull – Nacra 17 – Los Angeles, CA

For more details, click here.