Sailors gear up for 2018 Hempel Sailing World Championships

Andy Brown (GBR) - RS:X Men - 2018 World Cup Series Final © Tomas Moya / Sailing Energy / World Sailing

The Hempel Sailing World Championships Aarhus 2018 is just a few weeks away and the majority of sailors who are competing at the Marseille World Cup Series Final will be heading to the Danish city, targeting double success.

The 2018 World Championships, held in Aarhus, Denmark, will run from 30 July - 12 August. The competition is held every four years and is one of the biggest global sailing events in the world and the principal qualification event for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Sailing Competition.

With the goal of competing in Tokyo 2020, from now until the Worlds, the sailors will use their time to fit in as much practice as they can. Some have even set up their homes temporarily in Aarhus and are training day-in-day-out to look to gain an advantage over their rivals.

The young British RS:X sailor, Andy Brown (GBR), is competing in the Marseille 2018 World Cup Series Final and this will be his last competition before the Worlds. Over the last year, the Glasgow born sailor has been preparing for the Worlds by entering into as many competitions as possible.

Alongside competing at international sailing events, the Scottish born sailor is currently studying Naval Architecture. The rising star within the RS:X fleet has his eyes on competing in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, which will be held at the current World Cup Series Final venue in Marseille.

"It's been a busy 2017 and 2018, so far, because I crammed in as many competitions as I could before the upcoming Worlds in Aarhus. Since the start of 2018, I have competed in Miami and Hyeres, for Round 2 and 3 of the World Cup Series, then the Andalusian Olympic Week in Cádiz and also the Trofeo Princesa Sofia.

"I recently came back from the Medemblik Regatta and went straight to competing here in Marseille for the World Cup Series Final," shared Brown.

Brown is using this event to piece together the training he has undertaken from the start of 2018, in order to achieve a solid result to reassure himself that the training has paid off.

"I'm using this event as a finishing point after a year's training. I've been practicing and training on my starts and other elements which will help me win a race and I've done that in sections. But this competition in Marseille is the end of it before the Worlds.

"This week is where I can incorporate all my training and put it into practice to see if I am game ready."

Brown added, "I am aiming for a top-five finish here in Marseille."

In the RS:X Women's fleet, Patricia Freitas (BRA) will also be using the World Cup Final as the last competition practice before the Worlds.

After winning the World Cup Final in 2017, the Olympian got injured towards the end of the year and has been out of the game until the recent Medemblik Regatta, in the Netherlands, just a few weeks ago. This World Cup Series Final is only her second competition of the year and she qualified as the defending champion.

Freitas hasn't had much training or practice, compared to most in her fleet, because of her unfortunate injuries but she is attending the series Final in the hopes of squeezing her last bit of preparation before the World Championships.

There are only a few more weeks until the start of the Hempel Sailing World Championships so every day on the water counts.