Four Canadians set for ILCA Olympic Format Test Event

Four Canadians at an ILCA Olympic Format Test Event held ahead of Los Angeles 2028 © Thom Touw

A total of four Canadian sailors will take part in an ILCA Olympic Format Test Event ahead of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games that will be held October 8-11 (reserve day: October 12) in Vilamoura, Portugal.

Canadian Sailing Team members Ryan Anderson, Liam Bruce and James Juhasz in ILCA 7 will take part in this event, which aims to evaluate a proposed new race format for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. Canadian sailor Ben Flower will also be in action. A total of close to 40 sailors in ILCA 7 and ILCA 6 will try this new competition format.

The new format to be tried and evaluated in Vilamoura is aligned with recommendations from a World Sailing working group designed to meet the expectations of the International Olympic Committee and Olympic broadcasters by reducing complexity, improving clarity, and enhancing the sport's overall appeal to a global audience.

"I think it's going to be something that'll be a bit of fun," said Canadian Sailing Team member James Juhasz. "Trying a new format, something different, will be a fun change and, of course, there will be some good competition against several of the best sailors in the world, so I'm looking forward to catching a glimpse of what the 2028 Olympics could potentially look like. The goal of the format change is to make it more exciting for viewership but for us athletes, the goal of crossing the finish line first remains the same, so I will be approaching it just like I would any other regatta."

At the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the ILCA competition schedule was comprised of a five-day qualifying series at a pace of two races per day. At the end of the qualifying series, the top 10 boats qualified for the medal race, which was held on day 6 and where the sailors' points from the qualifying series were carried over while points added on that day were doubled.

The new competition format to be tested in Vilamoura is as follows:

Two days of Opening Series:

• three races scheduled per day;
• race target time of 30 minutes per race;
• worst score to be excluded;
• sailors will aim to be amongst the top 28 ranked boats at the end of the opening series, excluding the worst score, to qualify for the semi-final series;
• no points will be carried over.

One day of Semi-Final Series:

• three races scheduled for the day;
• race target time of 20 minutes per race;
• the 28 qualified sailors will be divided into two fleets based on the Opening Series ranks;
• no scores will be excluded;
• sailors will aim to be amongst the top seven ranked boats per fleet at the end of the Semi-Final series to qualify for the final series
• no points will be carried over.

One day of Final Series:

• three races scheduled for the day
• race target time of 20 minutes
• no scores will be excluded;
• the winner amongst the seven qualified sailors is the boat with the lowest score in the Final series.