Sailing World Cup Final heading to Santander in 2017, Kiel in 2018

by Daniel Smith - World Sailing on 10 Nov 2016 The Sailing World Cup Final, the climax of the international series of Olympic and Paralympic class racing, has been awarded to Santander, Spain in 2017 and to Kiel, Germany in 2018.

Santander hosted the most recent edition of the World Sailing Championships in 2014, attracting over 1,000 sailors and 400,000 spectators across two weeks of competition on the Bay of Biscay and the Bay of Santander. And Kiel, famous for hosting the internationally renowned Kieler-Woche regatta, is a regular stop on the Olympic circuit, welcoming world class sailors for a week-long festival of sailing which is combined with the largest summer festival in northern Europe.

The announcement of Santander and Kiel as future Sailing World Cup Final venues falls in line with the recent release of the vision for the World Cup series:

The Sailing World Cup Series will continue to showcase and develop Olympic Sailing, it will be a key part of a sailor's Olympic campaign, integrate Para World Sailing, help create heroes and engage sailing sports fans, excite sponsors and broadcasters and conclude with a Final at which the winners in each event are crowned.

On the announcement, World Sailing President Carlo Croce expressed, 'Both Santander and Kiel offer excellent sailing conditions and the opportunity to excite sailing with the public attending each event and through digital media.

'Both venues have the Sailing World Cup vision at their heart and will provide the world's best sailors' with a great opportunity to showcase our sport.”

The northern Spanish city will host the 2017 edition of the Sailing World Cup Final from 4 – 11 June, providing the climax to a shortened series that sees events take place in Miami, USA and Hyeres, France.

On the announcement that Santander will host the 2017 Sailing World Cup Final, Juan Dominguez Munaiz, Sports Councillor for the City of Santander commented, 'It will be an honour and a new challenge for Santander to host the 2017 Sailing World Cup Final. The Municipality, along with the Government of Cantabria, the Royal Maritime Club of Santander and the Spanish Sailing Federation, we are going to work from now on to try to reach the success in organization and the involvement of the citizens that we accomplished in the 2014 Sailing World Championships.”

Kiel, in the north of Germany will host the 2018 Sailing World Cup Final during Kieler-Woche, the long running festival of sailing that attracts three-million visitors across the event.

Dirk Ramhorst, Event Chairman of Kieler Woche said, 'It makes us proud that Kiel will host the 2018 Sailing World Cup Final. We are happy that our concept was compelling and that the content of our bid led to the decision. We are looking forward to proving the strength of our concept.

'The Sailing World Final in Kiel will be a pinnacle event in the world of sailing in between the Olympic Games of Rio and Tokyo. Our classes portfolio will showcase the Olympic Story from the youth via the ambitious amateurs to the top sailors of the world. That said, we are looking forward to welcoming the world of sailing and World Sailing in Kiel.'

2017 Sailing World Cup Series

Miami will host the first Round of the upcoming 2017 Series from 22-29 January 2017 with Hyeres, France following from 23-30 April 2017. The Sailing World Cup Final in Santander will conclude the shortened series from 4 – 11 June.

Rio 2016 Olympic medallists automatically qualify for the 2017 Sailing World Cup Final and they will be joined by winners of the Sailing World Cup Miami and Hyeres Rounds. For the remaining places, qualification to the Final will be based on combined results at the Sailing World Cup Rounds, with the highest placed finishers booking their spot on the start line.