Sailing at the Olympics 2016
How does it work?
There are six different types of boat across the 10 events. Competitors sail against each other in an initial opening series of 10 or 12 races, accruing points after each race equivalent to where they finish (i.e., one point for coming first, two for second, …).
Crews then discard their worst race score, and the 10 boats with the lowest totals progress to the medal race, in which double points are awarded and added to the overall scores.
Events Name — Equipment Used — Race Schedule
Men’s sailboard — RS:X (36 entries) — August 8–14
Women’s sailboard — RS:X (26 entries) — August 8–14
Men’s single person dinghy — Laser (46 entries) — August 8–15
Women’s single person dinghy — Laser Radial (37 entries) — August 8–15
Men’s heavyweight dinghy — Finn (23 entries) — August 9–16
Mixed multihull — Nacra 17 (20 entries) — August 10–16
Men’s two person dinghy — 470 (26 entries) — August 10–17
Women’s two person dinghy — 470 (20 entries) — August 10–17
Men’s two person skiff — 49er (20 entries) — August 12–18
Women’s two person skiff — 49er FX (20 entries) — August 12–18
Note: All events have one reserve day beyond the schedule above.
Anything new for Rio 2016?
Two of the 10 events have changed since the London Olympics: the women’s 49erFX and mixed-gender Nacra 17 replace the women’s match racing and men’s Star.
Who are the favourites?
Two crews have won all four World Championship titles in this Olympic cycle: New Zealand pair Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, who have not lost in the 49er class since taking silver at the 2012 Olympics, and Billy Besson and Marie Riou of France in the new high-speed Nacra 17 event. Giles Scott has stepped out of the shadow of Sir Ben Ainslie to tremendous effect, winning a fourth world title in the Finn class this year, and losing just once since April 2013.
Two other Britons became world champions this year: Nick Thompson in the Laser and Alison Young in the Laser Radial. Brazilian sailor Robert Scheidt will compete in the Laser at 43 years old, and if he steps on the podium he will be the sailor with most medals (six) in the history of sailing.
How can you follow it?
As the international federation for sailing, World Sailing will host live blogs and reports along with live 2D and 3D tracking of all boats on all courses during each day of racing. To find this along with all the event information: http://www.sailing.org/olympics/rio2016/home.php
