The edition is exceptional. In Hyères, like every year, the traditional French Olympic Week takes place starting this Saturday. The world's Olympic sailing elite will meet in the middle of the Mediterranean, on the nautical stadium bounded by the Îles d'Or, Porquerolles, Port-Cros and Le Levant. But this year, the event will be double. There will not be one competition, as usual, but two, promising a double dose of spectacle.
This is the wish expressed by the World Sailing Federation. Because the year is Olympic! Nearly 1,000 athletes and 500 accompanying people from 90 different countries, a record for the SOF, will be in Hyères from April 20 to 27, and hope to meet in a few months in Marseille, where the sailing events will be held. This is around twenty additional nations, compared to the average of previous years. There will be 700 boats on the water identical to those that will compete in the Olympic events.
“The Last Chance Regatta”: last hopes of the Olympics
The 55th edition offers a major new feature: “The Last Chance Regatta”. This new competition was created specifically in 2024 to allow nations that have not yet obtained their tickets for the Olympic Games to get one. There are 90 of them for only 39 places, which promises a great fight between the 300 boats present on the water. Three places will be available per discipline, with the exception of kiteboarding and iQFOiL where five places will be awarded for both women and men. In addition, four places will be reserved for the mixed double dinghy (470).
The second competition is open to the “Qualified Nations”. Countries like France which have already won their place at the Olympic Games will participate. Each nation will send two representatives from its delegation for each discipline. The competition serves as a final rehearsal before the 2024 Olympic Games, the events of which will be held 80 km further, on the coast, in Marseille. “The goal is to offer a format as close as possible to the Olympic format, so that the athletes can prepare as well as possible,” we are told by the French Sailing Federation. Before the SOF, the French sailboats followed a cohesion “commando course” in one of the training centers of the French Navy.
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Nine of the ten Olympic disciplines will be competing in these two races: ILCA (women's and men's single dinghy), 49er (men's and women's double dinghy), 470 (mixed double dinghy), Formula Kite (men's and women's kitefoil) and iQFOiL ( windfoil men and women). Only the athletes racing in the Nacra 17 (one-design foiling catamaran) will not be in Hyères this week, preferring to concentrate on the upcoming championships, before trying, like all the others, to shine at the Games.