All the Olympic sailing events have a Medal Race or Series to decide the final podium medals. And not just one system but three different ways to decide who has won the medals.
This can be confusing for sailors and spectators alike who are usest to non-olympic racing which normally uses a straight forward point scoring system with the competitors ranked numerically.
Not so in the Olympic classes, in Olympic sailing there are six boat events: Men’s Skiff, Women’s Skiff, Women’s Dinghy, Men’s Dinghy, Mixed Multihull and Mixed Dinghy.
The six boat events all follow the same scoring system (for now).
Initially, the fleet will compete in the Opening Series – races where crew score points depending on their finishing position.
In these events, the fleet will compete across either 10 or 12 races in the Opening Series, with each boat’s worst score discarded and not counting against their total.
This will give them an overall total with the boat with the lowest total ranked first, and the highest total last.
At the end of the Opening Series, the top ten boats in the fleet will qualify for the Medal Race.
The Medal Race will follow the same format, but the points will be doubled. Therefore, the boat that finishes first will score two points, down to 20 for the crew that finishes tenth. The score in the Medal Race cannot be discarded.
In some situations, a crew will have built a big enough lead (20+) that they cannot be overtaken by the medal race.
The three medal winners are the three competitors with the lowest total points.
To avoid that situation the Olympic Windsurfer and Kiteboard events both use a knock-out Medal series.
Olympic Windsurfer iQFOil Medal Series.
As with the boat classes, the Windsurfing events start with an Opening Series, with the entire fleet racing up to 17 times.
The scoring system is the same with one point for first, two for second etc, with one discard.
At the end of the Opening Series, the top 10 progress. Those ranked fourth to tenth compete in a Quarter-Final, with the top two in that elimination race progressing through to the Semi-Final.
In the Semi-Final, they will come up against the athletes who finished second and third. Once again, two will progress, joining the top overall athlete in the Final.
The Final is therefore made up of three athletes, each guaranteed a medal, with the colour decided by the finishing position. That means that everything comes down to that final race to see who will take the gold.
How does the Olympic Kiteboarding Medal Series Work?
The Kiteboarding Medal Series uses race wins in the Medal Series, rather than points, to decide the medal winners.
As with the other events, the fleet of 20 will initially compete in an Opening Series, made up of a maximum of 16 races with up to three discards.
That will be used to whittle down the fleet to a top ten. Of those, the top two athletes will progress directly to the Final, while those from third to tenth will compete in the Semi-Finals.
In those Semi-Finals, the first to three wins progresses to the Final. There is a catch though. The athletes ranked third and fourth – who will be in separate Semi-Finals – carry two wins apiece through, needing just one more to make the final.
The athletes in fifth and sixth carry over one win, meaning that they need a further two wins. The remaining four athletes carry none, therefore needing to win three times to make the Final.
The first to three wins in each Semi-Final joins the top two in the Final.
In that Final, the first overall seed will start with two wins under their belt, while the second seed has one. The two qualifiers from the Semi-Finals start from scratch, needing three wins to take the title.
From that point, it is again a case of the first to three wins taking the gold medal, with the competition stopping at that point and the remaining medals awarded based on number of victories and seeding.
And just to keep you on your toes . . . The 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 classes are introducing updated formats to conclude their 2025 World championships, and if successful they could be used at the 2028 Games.
The 49er and FX will use a first-to-win-three system like the Kiteboard has been using and the Nacra 17 will likely finish with a match race, as used for the foiling America’s Cup, which would add a fourth medal race series!
Related Post . . .
2025 Nacra 17, 49er and FX Worlds to feature new Medal formats
British Sailing Team at Paris 2024 – The events, the selections and the medal prospects
