The Aarhus 2018 Sailing World Championships Test Event is taking place this week in the Bay of Aarhus, in Denmark, for a week of preparations for sailors, Race Officials and event organizers, prior to the 2018 Worlds.
Held from 7-13 August 2017 at the Egå Marina in Aarhus, Denmark, over 370 sailors from 54 nations are participating in the Test Event, including a number of Rio 2016 Olympic medalists. The Olympic medalists, attending the Test Event, include the three-time Olympic medallist, Vasilij Žbogar (SLO) SSL Finalist in 2016 with Zsombor Berecz, also in Aarhus leading while we write the Finn class, and Sime Fantela (CRO), gold in Rio 2016 in the 470 class and now starting the new Olympic campaign with his brother on a 49er. Fantela was also an SSL Finalist in 2016 and finished in the top 10, like Tom Burton (AUS) gold in the laser who is now leading the Laser ranking at the Test Event, where you can find so many other SSL Finalists: Tonci Stipanovic (CRO), Pavlos Kontides (CYP) and Sam Meech (NZL). In the Finn entry you can also find Max Salminen (SWE), the gold medal bowman of Freddy Loof at the London 2012 Games, and SSL Finalist in 2013, Facundo Olezza (ARG), rookie at the SSL Finals last year and Jorge Zarif (BRA) helming at the SSL Finals 2016 the boat given to Bruno Prada for being the first crew in the SSL Ranking. The Aarhus 2018 Test Event allows sailors to acclimatize with the local waters, race courses and sailing conditions.
The test event is being held out of the Egå Marina just outside of the city of Aarhus. However, the Aarhus 2018 World Championships will be centered around the brand-new Aarhus International Sailing Centre. This will be a compact competition venue, in walking distance from downtown Aarhus. Racing for all 10 Olympic Classes commences on Tuesday 8 August and runs through to Sunday 13 August with Medal Races held on the Saturday and Sunday.
About the World Championships
The Sailing World Championship is held every four years and are the largest gathering of Olympic class sailors. The Sailing World Championships are the principal qualification event for the Olympic Games.
Aarhus 2018 is the first and most significant qualification event for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, with 40% of the nation quotas places available across the ten Olympic events. Men's and Women's Kiteboarding will also be held across the duration of the 2018 World Championships.
Santander, Spain, hosted the 2014 World Championship in September 2014. The 2014 Worlds served as the first Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition qualifier with 50% of Rio 2016 places awarded.
HOW TO FOLLOW
Results and entries from the Aarhus 2018 Test Event are available here -
Follow the event on Social Mediasof World Sailing's and Aarhus 2018's :
World Sailing: Facebook
- Twitter
and Aarhus 2018: Facebook - Twitter
SSL Press Officer since 2015
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