Aarhus 2018 Sailing World Championships qualification system released

by Daniel Smith - World Sailing on 17 Jan 2017 The qualification system for the 2018 Sailing World Championships set to be held in Aarhus, Denmark from 30 July to 12 August 2018 has been released.

The Sailing World Championships are held every four years and is the largest gathering of Olympic class sailors. At the 2014 edition in Santander, Spain, more than 1,100 sailors from 82 nations attended with hundreds of thousands of spectators taking to the promenade and spectator dune.

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.

Second only to the Olympic Games, the 2018 Worlds, organised in collaboration between World Sailing, Dansk Sejlunion, Sailing Aarhus, Sport Event Denmark and the City of Aarhus aims to become a record breaker. More than 100 nations are predicted to compete in the 2017 European City of Culture with new standards to be set for both sailors and spectators.

Aarhus 2018 will also see Men's and Women's Kiteboarding introduced into the championships for the first time.

Alastair Fox, Director of Events at World Sailing commented, 'Excellent progress continues to be made by the Aarhus 2018 Organising Committee and the local authorities. The team have set ambitious targets that will make the championships memorable not only for the attending sailors but also to spectators and those following the event around the world.

'The qualification system for the Aarhus 2018 Worlds offers every World Sailing Member National Authority one entry per event. This will enable Aarhus 2018 to attract a record number of nations.”

Klaus Natorp, Head of Aarhus 2018 Sailing World Championships added, 'All four partners behind the event: The City of Aarhus, Sport Event Denmark, The Danish Sailing Association and Sailing Aarhus are setting all sails in their efforts to make the Aarhus 2018 Sailing World Championships a truly memorable event that will combine world class sailing and a maritime festival for thousands of sailors and spectators.

'Our teams of volunteers are fully engaged in their training and education programme and they are showing great enthusiasm and professionalism which reflect Denmark's long track record of executing world class sailing events.

'It will be fantastic to host teams from up to 100 different nations and share the celebration of the city's return to the sea with the brand new sailing centre at the tip of the urban development of the docklands of Aarhus.”