Countdown to the 49er and 49erFX World Championships in Lanzarote
-A total of 128 crews from 36 countries will compete: 52 crews in the women's 49erFX class and 76 in the men's 49er class.
-The World Championship officially starts on the 1st of March with equipment inspections and registration. The races will take place from the 5th to the 10th of March.
After finishing the iQFOiL World Championship on the 3rd of February, Marina Rubicón is back and hosting a new Olympic class world championship under the umbrella of the Lanzarote International Regatta. On this occasion it will be the turn of the men's 49er double class and the women's 49erFX, in which once again there will be an important fight with tickets for Paris 2024 still to be decided.
Racing program
The championship officially begins on 1 March with equipment inspections and registration, which will take place until Monday 4 March, when the official training regatta (13h00) and the opening ceremony (18h00) will take place.
From the 5th to 10th of March there will be six intense days of racing with races scheduled to start at 12h00 local time.
The championship will be made up of a Qualifying Series (from 5 to 7 March) and a final Series (from 8 to 10 March). At the end of the qualifying series, the 25 best crews will sail in the gold fleet. On Sunday 10th March, the final Medal Race will take place, in which only the top 10 will compete, double points will be awarded and the result cannot be discarded.
No one is missing
A week before the start of the races, the vast majority of the fleet is already in Marina Rubicón, where up to four coach regattas have been held for both classes since last December. The most recent one was held last weekend and was attended by 77 boats.
In 49erFX class, as usual, the big names are the ones of the Brazilians Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze, Olympic champions in Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020. Sweden's Vilma Bobeck and Rebecca Netzler will be fighting to retain the world title won in The Hague in 2023, while Spain's Támara Echegoyen and Paula Barceló, with the ticket to Paris 2024 already in their pocket, are always in the betting pools and will have the advantage of playing at home.
In the men's 49er fleet, there are also many candidates for the title but a clear favourite – the Dutch team of Bart Lambriex and Floris van der Werken (NED) who have won the last three world titles. Among many contenders are Lucas Rual and Emile Amoros (FRA) while Diego Botín and Florian Trittel, bronze medalists at last year's World Championships, are Spain's trump cards.
Live broadcast starting Friday the 8th of March
Marina Rubicón has dedicated a lot of effort and focus on this championship and starting on Friday and until the end of the World Championship, on Sunday the 10th, racing will be broadcast live on the YouTube channel of Lanzarote Sailing Center.
Likewise, the website www.lanzarotesailingcenter.com will be updated with news, photographs and videos every day.
The Lanzarote International Regatta is organized by Marina Rubicón and has the collaboration of the Royal Canarian Sailing Federation, as well as the institutional support of the Tourism area of the Lanzarote Cabildo through the sports product European Sports Destination (managed by SPEL-Turismo Lanzarote), Promotur Turismo de Canarias, the Yaiza City Council and the private entities Dinghycoach, Naviera Armas and Cabrera Medina (Cicar).
LINKS:
Media Accreditation
Website
49er entry list
49erFX entry list
Text Credits: Helena Paz/Marina Rubicón
Photo Credits: 49er Worlds 2024 Lanzarote
