The 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 2022 European Championships will take place at Aarhus, Denmark, with racing from 5 to 10 July.
The championship will be based in Aarhus International Sailing Center in Aarhus Yacht Harbour close to the city centre, while racing will take place in the Bay of Aarhus only a few nautical miles east of the harbour.
A total of 210 entries have been received for the three championship events.
Although this is a European championship, there is world-wide interest with strong teams from Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA competing, highlighting the relatively short timescale to the next Olympics – Paris in July 2024.
With the national selection programmes already starting to take shape every event is important, particularly at this top level of competition following on almost two years of cancelled events and restricted travel.
For British 49er competitors this event will signal the start of the Paris 2024 selection process, highlighted by the announcement of the retirement from Olympic sailing of Tokyo gold medalist Dylan Fletcher.
Fletcher said: “It’s been an incredible journey with the British Sailing Team. After Tokyo I knew I had to give it another push for Paris but unfortunately it just was not meant to be this time. Best of luck to Rhos and the rest of the 49er squad.
“I just want to say a massive thank you to everyone that has been part of my campaign at the British Sailing Team. We are so lucky to have an amazing support team and Tokyo really was on another level. Time to sign out and pass the baton.”
This may even spur some BST members to compete at the 49er Short Track World Championship taking place at The Royal Gothenburg YC from 14 to 17 July in Marstrand, Sweden.
The next regular major event for these Olympic classes will be the 2022 Worlds in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, at the end of August, with the Canadian and North American championships preceeding it in July.
After that there will not be any major events until the Princesa Sofia Regatta in Mallorca in April 2023.
With the British sailing team selectors usually announcing their first Olympic choices late in the preceeding year – ie Oct(ish) 2023 – time on the water is of the essence.
European Championship British entries:
49er (99 entries)
GBR 140 Nick ROBINS and Daniel BUDDEN, WPNSA
GBR 30 James PETERS and Fynn STERRITT, Hayling Island SC
GBR 284 Chris TAYLOR and Rhos HAWES, WPNSA
GBR 189 Arran HOLMAN and James TAYLOR, Hollowell SC
GBR 130 Elliott WELLS and Billy VENNIS-OZANNE, Hayling Island SC
GBR 333 Fin ARMSTRONG and Ewan GRIBBIN, Paignton SC
49erFX (75 entries)
GBR 713 Eleanor KEERS and Jessica JOBSON, WPNSA
GBR 24 Freya BLACK and Saskia TIDEY, BST
GBR 379 Hannah BRISTOW and Anna CARPENTER, Leigh and Lowton SC
GBR 281 Monique VENNIS-OZANNE and Hannah MORRIS, WPNSA
GBR 230 Megan BRICKWOOD and Stephanie ORTON, TBA
Nacra 17 (33 entries)
GBR 21 John GIMSON and Anna BURNET, Rudyard Lake SC
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