Men's, Women's and Mixed Dinghies: Who's looking hot in Marseille?

The sailors in the Men’s, Women’s and Mixed Dinghies will have been watching the windsurfing and skiff competition racing from the early days of the Olympic Regatta. 

They’ve been getting in their final training sessions on the water and pushing their boats through the registration and measurement process in readiness for their first day of racing. The Men’s and Women’s Dinghies start on Thursday 1 August and Mixed Dinghy on Friday 2 August.

Here’s a rundown of what to expect from the next three events on the Olympic Sailing roster.

Women’s Dinghy – Danish Favourite

The ILCA 6 is supplied equipment, meaning that the sailors need to bring little more than their own wetsuit, buoyancy aid and hiking boots to go racing. Formerly known as the Laser Radial, this has been Olympic equipment since the Beijing 2008 Games.

As reigning Olympic and World Champion and Denmark’s flag bearer at the Paris Opening Ceremony, Anne-Marie Rindom starts as favourite in the Women’s Dinghy. However the Dane knows that fierce competition will come from many quarters, not least from Emma Plasschaert of Belgium and Marit Bouwmeester of The Netherlands. 

Bouwmeester has won silver, gold and bronze at the past three Games and now aged 34, as well as the mother of two-year-old Jessie, she is looking for a fourth to add to the collection. Plasschaert is a two-time World Champion and finished fourth at Tokyo 2020, so the Belgian will be massively motivated to reach the Paris podium.

Winner of the Tokyo silver medal, Sweden’s Josefin Olsson, is back to see if she can do it again, while others to keep an eye on include Switzerland’s Maud Jayet, Norway’s Line Flem Hoest and 2023 World Champion Maria Erdi from Hungary. 

Men’s Dinghy – Can Australia roll on to a fourth gold?

This is the same supplied equipment as used by the women, except that the ILCA 7 has a taller mast and larger sail for the Men’s Dinghy. Formerly known as the Laser Standard, this has been Olympic equipment since the Atlanta 1996 Games.

Matt Wearn has been the pre-eminent athlete in the Men’s Dinghy over the past number of years. Australia has dominated this event over the past decade or more, starting with Tom Slingsby’s gold at London 2012 followed by Tom Burton’s gold at Rio 2016 and then Wearn doing it again for fans downunder with his victory at Tokyo 2020.

Wearn had a terrible first day in Tokyo after some equipment failure but proved so dominant in the latter stages of the 2020 Games that he secured gold before the Medal Race.

Judging by the past couple of seasons, Wearn won’t have it so easy this time. He still starts as favourite but Great Britain’s Micky Beckett – who was working on the TV last time after missing selection – has closed the gap on the Australian.

There are some tight training groups who have all been working together to raise each other’s game. Norway’s Hermann Tomasgaard, runner-up at this year’s Worlds, has been working closely with xx World Champion from Germany, Philipp Buhl, and France’s Jean-Baptiste Bernaz.

At London 2012 Pavlos Kontides won the first and, as yet, only ever medal for Cyprus in any Olympic sport and has remained at the top of his game ever since. There are so many other potential medallists in this strong fleet of 40 entries, among them Italy’s Lorenzo Chiavarini and New Zealand’s Thomas Saunders.

Mixed Dinghy – Spain set the standard

The 470 has been in the Games since Montreal 1976. Half a century ago it was considered high performance equipment but such is progress it’s now one of the slower craft in the Olympic programme. However it’s a great boat for any breeze from 4 to 40 knots and probably the most adaptable across the range of wind and wave conditions. It’s also highly tactical and rewards a huge range of skills.

Since the 470 shifted from Men’s and Women’s Doublehanders after the Tokyo Games to the new setup of women and men sailing together in the Mixed Dinghy, the pecking order has changed quite a bit. 

It has taken a while for mixed teams to get established but the strongest and most consistent duo of recent seasons are Spain’s Jordi Xammar and Nora Brugman. Xammar took bronze at Tokyo in the Men’s Doublehander and with Brugman this partnership has won the World and European titles in early 2024.

Double Olympic bronze medallist Camille Lecointre with Jeremie Mion (FRA) look very strong for a podium performance on home waters, and last year’s dominant victory at the World Championship marks out Japan’s Keiju Okada and Miho Yoshioka as a strong bet for a top three performance. 

After coming through an incredibly competitive national trial, Germany’s Simon Diesch and Anna Markfort have learned a lot about dealing with pressure. If the wind blows the Germans will be one of the fastest on the race track. Almost 50 years ago at the Montreal Games of 1976, brothers Jörg and Eckart Diesch won Olympic gold in the Flying Dutchman. Can Eckart’s son, Simon, continue the family tradition?

written by Andy Rice