How to follow the sailing Olympics (calendar, tracking, regatta format)

workThe Sailing Olympics have begun.
Yesterday we told you how the Italian expedition in the nearby waters of Marseille is not there to make up the numbers, but with many real medal chances.

Sailing Olympics, “soft” debut

The debut of Paris 2024 for sailing was very “soft.”
Only the skiffs (the women’s and men’s acrobatic dinghies) took to the water and managed to race three trials, due to low wind.
So, first edges for Jana Germani and Giorgio Bertuzzi, who finished the three trials of the day with the placings of 12-9-9, placing 12th.

But everything is still to be decided.
For now, the Dutch Odile Van Aanholt and Annette Duetz are in the lead, followed by France’s Sarah Steyaert and Charline Picon and Germany’s Marla Bergmann and Hanna Wille.
The big favorites, Brazil’s Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze, defending Olympic champions, had a somewhat “sly” start and are in fifth place behind Japan’s Misaki Tanaka and Sera Nagamatsu.

• Learn about all the blue sailors competing in the Olympics

Today at 12 noon the men’s and women’s iQFOil boards (which should have made their debut already yesterday but the wind was too low), men’s and women’s, will take to the water in addition to, the men’s and women’s skiffs.
On the water for us are Nicolo Renna and Marta Maggetti.

How to follow the sailing Olympics live

You can follow the Sailing Olympics on TV if you have a subscription to Discovery Plus: RAI and other pay channels will broadcast any medal races if there are real medal chances.
To find out everything about the schedule, we recommend you consult the official World Sailing schedule while to be updated on the results in real time at this link all the rankings.
To follow live tracking of the regattas, however, you have several options at your disposal, because there are several countries that have purchased the rights. Among them, too bad, there is no Italy. You can find a list of all available tracking here.
We followed the first regattas with French tracking.

How the regattas work

Depending on the classes competing(everything you need to know about the classes here), athletes competing in the Marseille Olympics must race for 4, 5 or 6 days.
Each regatta lasts between 15 and 50 minutes depending on the type of boat. In the case of dinghies, skiffs and catamarans (470, ILCA, Nacra 17, 49er and 49er FX) athletes are awarded points equal to their placing in their respective races.
The first is awarded one point, the second two points, and so on.
At the end of the first 4-5 days of racing, the games are “almost done.”

The top 10 ranked crews participate in the very final, called the Medal Race.
Here the rules change, because the points won are worth double: the first gets 2 points, the second 4 and so on.
If you get to the Medal Race with the “short” ranking, this last round is decisive.
In the end, the podium is composed of the athletes/crew with the lowest total number of points. The racing format is different for iQFOil boards and Formula Kite.
In the boards, there are four days of competition and the spots will be different from day to day.
Athletes must alternate between conventional courses, slalom and endurance trials.
In the latter, the points won count double.
The final day is decisive and very intense. The quarterfinals are reserved for athletes ranked so far from fourth to tenth.
The top two from this “playoff” are selected for the semifinals, which are played in a four-way tie, along with the second and third place overall.
The very final is between the top two finishers of the semifinal and the leader of the overall ranking.
The podium is already known before going into the water, only the color of each athlete’s medal to be determined. On the Kites, on the other hand, after four days of racing, the top 10 qualify for the Medal Race.
From then on, only the third through 10th place finishers race in the first phase of the Medal.
The top two from this phase then join the first and second overall for the final four.
In the final, each individual race win is worth one point.
The first to reach 3 points wins the gold medal.