Sailing at the 2024 Summer Olympics

Paris 2024 saw significant changes in the sailing programme. Men’s and women’s kiteboarding was introduced for the first time, and windsurfing saw a change with competitors using the IQFoil board, replacing the Neil Pryde RS:X. The sail size for men was 9 square metres, and 8 square metres for women. Previously, the two-person dinghy 470 class awarded medals for men and women, but it changed and became the second mixed gender event in 2024, after the Nacro 17 multihull. Kiteboarding, the fastest sport at the Paris Games, was introduced to the programme at the expense of the one person Finn class, which had been included at the Games since 1952, and since 1928 a monotype dinghy event had been part of the schedule.

In total, 10 events were contested: four each for both men and women, and the two mixed events. The 10 events consisted of: two-person dinghy (mixed), multihull (mixed), windsurfing (men and women), kiteboarding (men and women), one-person dinghy (ILCA 7 for men, ILCA 6 for women), and skiff (the 49er for men, and 49er FX for women). The 2024 sailing events took place more than 750 km from Paris, at the Roucas Blanc Marina, in Marseille, on France’s south coast. The area had been a nautical centre since the 19th century, but was developed in the 1970s when the Prado seaside park was established. Further development took place in readiness for the 2024 Olympics.

The biggest problem the sailing events encountered was the wind, or lack of it, as it caused havoc with television schedules as races were delayed or postponed. The Netherlands topped the medal table, with four, and, along with Austria and Italy, was among only three nations to win two golds. Great Britain’s two medals saw them remain at the top of the all-time sailing medal table, with 65, three ahead of the United States, who had another disappointing Games, winning just one bronze medal, only their second medal since 2008.

Israeli windsurfer Tom Reuveny won his country’s second ever sailing gold medal, and the silver won by Pavlos Kontides in the men’s one-person dinghy was only the second sailing medal won by Cyprus (he also won the first). In the same event, Stefano Peschiera of Peru won his nation’s first sailing medal. Also winning their first sailing medal was Singapore, thanks to kiteboarder Max Maeder, and the men’s kite gold medalist Toni Vodišek won Slovenia’s first sailing medal.

Marit Bouwmeester of the Netherlands became sailing’s most decorated woman when she won gold in the one-person dinghy, to add to the gold she won in 2016, and silver and bronze in 2012 and 2020 respectively. In the same event, Denmark’s Anne-Marie Rindom completed her set of medals by adding silver to the gold and bronze she won in 2020 and 2016.

Four 2020 champions attempted to defend their their titles at Paris 2024: Anne-Marie Rindom, Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze (women’s skiff), Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti (mixed multihull), and Matt Wearn (men’s one-person dinghy). Only Tita / Banti, and Wearn, made successful defenses. Uniquely, Sweden’s Anton Dahlberg won the two-person dinghy mixed bronze medal with Lovisa Karlsson, having won silver in the men’s version of the same event four years earlier with Fredrik Bergström.