The World Sailing Emerging Nations Program (ENP) aims to close the performance gap between countries competing at the international level, as well as helping to increase the number of nations attending who may not normally be able to send sailors due to coaching or budgetary restrictions.
World Sailing’s ENP supported sailors pulled out all the stops at The Last Chance Regatta this week, with 75% of the Olympic spots on offer in the ILCA 5 and ILCA 7 being claimed by ENP sailors. The six ENP sailors that qualified bring the overall number of ENP sailors heading to Paris up to 21. This program is clearly making a difference as we see an additional 13 ENP sailors qualified for Paris 2024 compared to Tokyo 2020.
In the women's dinghy ILCA 6, event winner Ebru Bolat had already earned an Olympic spot for Romania before today's medal races. Joining Bolat on the podium are Cyprus's Marilena Makri and Nethra Kumanan of India. Lin Pletikos of Slovenia took the last Olympic place available after she finished in 4th.
Meanwhile, in the men's dinghy ILCA 7, Estonian Karl-Martin Rammo and Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy of Malaysia were sure of qualifying for a place before today's event. Joining them in Marseille are South Korea's Jeemin Ha and ENP-backed athlete Enrique Arathoon of El Salvador.
In the mixed dinghy 470, the Turkish team of Deniz Cinar and Lara Nalbantoglu joined Italy, Greece, and Slovenia in qualifying for the Games. The Italians topped the podium in first and second; however, the selection of which team goes is up to the National body. Giacomo Ferrari and Alessandra Dubbini may feel their first-place finish here gives them the edge over second-placed Elena Berta and Bruno Festo.
Both skiff events have seen fierce competition in Hyères, and the men's skiff 49er concluded with Hong Kong claiming the last of the four Olympic qualification spots on offer following Akira Sakai and Russell Aylsworth placing seventh overall. Sakai and Aylsworth's hard work means their country joins Germany, Belgium, and Brazil in taking a last-chance Paris 2024 ticket.
In the women's skiff 49er FX, the qualifying places were already decided with Poland, Germany, Finland, Japan, and Czechia all ensuring they can select athletes for the Olympic Regatta. The medal race saw the Polish duo Aleksandra Melzacka and Sandra Jankowiak complete a dominant week by finishing top ahead of compatriots Gabriela Czapska and Hanna Rajchert.
In the mixed multihull Nacra 17, there were still two of the four Olympic qualifying places on offer, and one of them went to Belgium, who placed two boats in the top four with Lucas Claeyssens and Eline Verstraelen finishing third. The last spot for the Olympics went to Shibuki Iitsuka and Oura Nishida Capiglia of Japan who finished in fifth place. The event was won by the Danish pair Natacha Violet Saouma-Pedersen and Mathias Bruun Borreskov who led from the front all week while the Turkish team of Alican Kaynar and Beste Kaynakçi finished second.
The final results are up for the Last Chance Regatta and what an incredible event it has been.