Racing will open at the second 2026 Sailing Grand Slam, the Semaine Olympique Française de Hyères, on Monday 20 April.
As with the first Sailing Grand Slam, the Princess Sofia Regatta, Mallorca, the ten Olympic classes will decide their medals with a revamped Medal Series.
This has apparently been requested by the IOC to bring sailing into line with other sports at the Games in having a sudden-death final race, with the medals awarded as they cross the line.
Although the system used by the dinghies did not really open the podium places to all ten final competitors, it did close-up the field for the two final races by ‘adjusting’ the scores to allow more competitors a theoretical chance of medalling.
The four board events used a final knock-out format which has more jeopardy – and has caused some upset in previous events – but may be more what the IOC is looking for.
World Sailing decided that new medal race formats would be used for LA28 back in December, following the presentation of recommendations by the Events Committee Chair Wolfgang Mayrhofer at a Special Council Meeting back in December.
What we see at the Spanish and French Sailing Grand Slams, and whether the World Sailing Events Committee considers they fulfill the IOC requirement, is important due to the (self-determined) deadline for a final LA28 format decision.
World Sailing decided that after a period of event trials, the adopted formats are to be adjusted based on the information received from testing and feedback, so that the final format for the Olympic Sailing Competition is determined no later than 31 May 2026.
And waiting in the wings there is always the Relay, a great Olympic crowd-pleaser, and already used in Formula Kite.
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World Sailing to debate Olympic Sailing new medal race formats for LA28
