Canadian athletes' qualification toward Paris 2024 to start in the first week of January

Sarah Douglas - 2023 ILCA 6 and ILCA 7 Senior European Championships © Thom Touw Sailing Photographer

Canadian battles to represent the country for one of the spots qualified in sailing toward the Paris 2024 Olympic Games will start in the first week of January, with the first of two competitions that will serve for the Canadian qualification process in ILCA 6 to be held as part of the 2024 ILCA 6 World Championship, January 5-10, in Mar del Plata, Argentina.

Three Canadian sailors will be in action during the event: Sarah Douglas and Clara Gravely from Toronto, as well as Coralie Vittecoq from Montreal.

The 2024 ILCA 6 World Championship, which will also serve as a spot qualification event for countries toward Paris 2024, will showcase a total of 111 athletes representing 47 countries, including all medalists from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, the 2022 ILCA 6 World Championship and the 2023 Sailing World Championships. Canada qualified a spot in ILCA 6 for Paris 2024 at this latter event.

"This will be the last World Championship before the Olympics and the start of our Canadian Olympic trials, and I look forward to putting all of my hard work training into a strong performance in a new place for me in the southern hemisphere, Argentina," said Sarah Douglas, sixth at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

"Over the past few weeks, I've been training down in Florida with conditions hopefully close to Argentina swell and making gains in my downwind speed. I'm looking for a top performance as we narrow our focus towards Paris 2024."

How Canadian athletes qualify themselves for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games

For each class in which Canada qualifies a spot for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, athletes and teams can qualify themselves by being the athlete/team with the lowest score combined position from the 2024 World Championships in their respective classes and the 2024 Princess Sofia Regatta, added together, with selection being based on a sailing scoring system (lowest score first).

If there is a tie, the athlete/team in the higher position (based on the sailing scoring system) at the 2024 Princess Sofia Regatta will qualify to be nominated. If an event is cancelled, it will be replaced by the classe's 2024 European Championships.

Prior to being named to Team Canada, all nominations are subject to approval by the Canadian Olympic Committee's Team Selection Committee after it has received nominations from all National Sport Organizations.

As of today, Canada has qualified spots for the sailing competitions at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in ILCA 6, 49er, 49erFX and women's kiteboarding. For the other events, Canada can still qualify spots in other competitions that will be coming up in 2024.

Full qualification processes for countries to qualify spots at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the manner in which Canadians can qualify themselves to be nominated for the Paris 2024 Team Canada squad, as well as the full qualification calendar are available at www.sailing.ca/sc_event/2024-olympic-games.