World Sailing Council approves LA28 event format recommendations

The recommendations aim to strengthen the value of sailing to the Olympic Games, and enhance the profile of the sport’s athletes, by delivering a greater share of television audiences at LA28 while retaining the unique character of the sport. 

Adopting the recommendations will see two distinct formats: one for the board events, and one for the boat events. 

The Dinghy, Skiff and Multihull events will start with a Qualification Series over three days followed by the Finals on one day with the top 10 competitors taking part in two single-point races. Qualification Series net points will carry forward but any large gaps will be compressed to keep competition close. This will mean that no medal can be won before the last day and all competitors entering the Finals will have a chance of winning a medal. 

The Windsurfing and Kite events will feature a Qualification Series where the top 10 progress to the Finals. Athletes in positions 6-10 enter a Quarter Final with the top two advancing to a Semi Final where they join athletes 3-5 from the Qualification Series. The Final is then raced between the top two from the Qualification Series and two qualifiers from the Semi Final for a four-board final. 

The recommendations were formulated after consultation with athletes and coaches, Olympic Broadcast Service, media rights holders, and a wide variety of stakeholders.  

The next steps are to test the target times and scoring compression in international competition through the first four months of 2026 before they are adopted formally for LA28. 

The full Events Committee recommendations can be viewed in the 10 December World Sailing Council papers on the World Sailing website here. 

The LA28 sailing events will take place from 16-28 July 2028.  

The World Sailing Council also approved the appointment of Dee Caffari as the new Vice-Chair of the World Sailing Oceanic & Offshore Committee and Marie Riou as a new member of the same committee.