Reviewing the Olympic Sailing Program

The trend in the Olympic sailing has been to evolve the program to appease the International Olympic Committee which wants gender balance and more dynamic racing and formats that present well on broadcast. To keep the sport in the Olympics, the ten events have significantly changed.

The program for 2024 and 2028 remained the same, but now World Sailing is seeking feedback as part of its review of Olympic sailing events going forward. The review is required under its regulations (Regulation 11) which mandates that at least four Olympic events are placed under review every four years.

At the 2025 World Sailing Annual Conference, the General Assembly voted to place the Men’s Kite, Women’s Kite, Mixed Dinghy, and Mixed Multihull under review. Following the review, this year’s General Assembly will vote, deciding for each event to either:

• Retain the event and equipment,
• Retain the event but evolve the equipment,
• Retain the event but adopt entirely new equipment,
• Replace with a new event (equipment to be determined).

Where there is a vote to evolve or change equipment, that will be subject to a further review for a final decision in 2027. Proposals will be considered by a joint events and equipment committee working group. Proposals to inform and support the working group can be submitted by:

• Member National Authorities
• World Sailing Class Associations
• Continental Associations
• Associate Members
• Committees, Sub-committees, or Commissions
• World Sailing Race Officials

Proposals should be submitted to proposals@sailing.org using this template and must be submitted by March 31, 2026. Decisions related to Olympic sailing events will be subject to approval by the International Olympic Committee.

Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Sailing Program (July 16-28):
First Week – July 16-20
Men’s Kiteboard – Formula Kite Class – Long Beach, CA
Women’s Kiteboard – Formula Kite Class – Long Beach, CA
Men’s Windsurfing – iQFOiL – Long Beach, CA
Women’s Windsurfing – iQFOiL – Long Beach, CA

Second Week – July 23-28
Men’s One Person Dinghy – ILCA 7 – Los Angeles, CA
Women’s One Person Dinghy – ILCA 6 – Los Angeles, CA
Mixed Two Person Dinghy – 470 – Los Angeles, CA
Men’s Skiff – 49er – Los Angeles, CA
Women’s Skiff – 49erFX – Los Angeles, CA
Mixed Multihull – Nacra 17 – Los Angeles, CA

For more details, click here.