On to the next one

There was disappointment but little surprise when it was confirmed by World Sailing that there would not be an offshore demonstration event during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The lobbying and discussions had dragged on and, with few signs of support from the Japanese hosts, it became clear this initiative was faltering. But in 2024 the Olympic Games come to France… a nation not without an affinity for racing offshore

World Sailing has hardly finished grappling with a Tokyo Olympics 2020 format and it’s now being forced to make serious decisions about Paris 2024 (the sailing venue is Marseille, 480 miles to the south). In February they voted on a slate of current Olympic class events that needed to be reviewed, pushed along by a combination of European anti-trust laws and need to reinvigorate the Olympic suite. That’s a process that will continue into the May mid-year meeting of the World Sailing council and it’s expected the final decisions will not be made until the annual meeting in November this year, to be held in Sarasota, USA.