The third Youth Olympic Games, to be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, between 6-18 October 2018, will welcome 100 sailors from 44 different nations.
Five sailing events will take place at Club Nautico San Isidro in the Argentine capital, including debuts for two classes – Girl’s and Boy’s Kiteboarding (Twin Tip Racing) and the Mixed Multihull (Nacra 15). Elsewhere, Girl’s and Boy’s Windsurfing (Techno 293+) will return for its third consecutive Games. [more]
In the Techno 293+, the first race of the opening series will be a fleet race. Following the first race, either a fleet or slalom single elimination series race will be held. All fleet races will race in one group and each slalom race will be divided into four heats with semi-finals and finals to decide who gets maximum points from that race. The final race will be a fleet race, featuring all the competitors.
A host of qualification regattas across all five events were held to help dictate which nations would compete at the Youth Olympic Games. Places were awarded to the highest performing nations in the World Championships of each class before a series of continental qualification regattas across six regions took place. Hosts Argentina were automatically awarded a spot in each fleet.
No fewer than eight medal-winning athletes from this year’s Youth Sailing World Championships, held in Corpus Christi, Texas, USA, will be competing in the Youth Olympic Games, including three World Champions.
Islay Watson (GBR) is 2018 Youth Worlds gold medallist participating at the Youth Olympic Games. In a competitive RS:X Girls fleet, the British windsurfer won three out of her last four races to claim the title by two points. In Buenos Aires she will be racing on the Techno 293+ and will be joined by some tough competitors.
Veerle ten Have (NZL) and Giorgia Speciale (ITA) shared the podium with Watson in Texas and they will both be aiming to claim the Girl’s Windsurfing fleet in Buenos Aires.
17-year-old Ten Have, who took the silver medal at the Youth Worlds, has had a busy few months – she also made an appearance at the Hempel Sailing World Championships in Aarhus, finishing 52nd overall out of 62 sailors.
Speciale, meanwhile, picked up bronze in Corpus Christi, finishing 23 points ahead of fourth-placed Palma Cargo (CRO), who will also race at the Games. The Italian heads to Argentina in good form, with a recent 2018 RS:X Youth European Championship title under her belt.
Her compatriot Nicolo Renna is the sole male RS:X Youth Worlds medal-winner to be making the trip to South America; he won silver in Corpus Christi, 12 points ahead of third place.
World Champion Geronimo Nores won’t be at the Youth Olympic Games but his younger brother Manuel (USA) is part of the Techno 293+ line-up in Buenos Aires. Similarly, the younger sister of Youth Worlds bronze medal-winner Fabien Pianazza, Manon, is amongst the Girl’s Windsurfing pack.
Several medallists are continuing to perform at the highest level of sailing – six previous Youth Olympic Games medal winners were present at the Hempel Sailing World Championships in Aarhus, including Kieran Holmes-Martin (GBR), Techno 293+ bronze medallist in 2010, and Daphne van der Vaart (NED), Techno 293+ silver medallist in 2010.
Windsurfing racing begins at 12:00 local time (UTC-3) on Sunday 7 October, with the Kiteboarding and Nacra 15 events following suit at the same time on Monday 8 October.
Windsurfing will then finish one day earlier on Friday 12 October, before Kiteboarding and the Nacra 15 wrap up on Saturday 13 October.
