The 49er, 49erFX, and Nacra 17 Olympic Classes 2026 World Championships open with racing from May 12–17, the medal races on the final day.
This is a must-do event for anyone with thoughts of LA 2028 and follows on from the first two Sailing Grand Slam (SGS) events, the Trofeo Sofia in Palma Mallorca, and the Semaine Olympique Française in Hyeres.
The British Sailing Team will be out in force in all three championships with 14 GBR teams expected to compete.
As with the all the SGS events this season the Final (Medal) Series racing feature changed scoring formats in an effort to provide a more media friendly event for the Olympic Games. Apparently to ensure the continued presence of sailing events in future Games.
In these championships the 49er and 49erFX will use a two race Final with adjusted scores.
Qualification Series nett scores carry forward into Final (Medal) Series and are compressed to keep the Final (Medal) Series race of equivalent value to the Elimination Series races.
To achieve this the Qualification Series nett scores are divided by 2.25 and truncated to the nearest integer prior to the start of the Final Medal Series.
The Qualification Series score plus the Final (Medal) Series scores (if applicable) will be the overall points for the Championship.
The Nacra 17 event will also use a two race Final Series, but with a different form of adjusted score.
a) When the scoring difference between two boats is greater than 9 points, the score of the lower placed boat will be reduced so that the difference with the boat ahead of her is 9 points.
b) When the scoring difference between two boats is less than or equal to 9 points and the score of the boat ahead has been changed, the points difference is maintained by adjusting the lower placed boat’s score.
c) If after applying (a) the score of any boat is greater than 18 points more than the score of the boat in third place, the score of such a boat will be changed so that the difference is 18 points.
d) If after applying (a) and (b) there is a tie between two or more boats, it shall be broken by their rank with the Fleet Race score.
World Sailing has declared that the final race scoring format for the Olympic Sailing competition will be determined no later than 31 May 2026.
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