{"id":354393,"date":"2023-12-18T23:41:11","date_gmt":"2023-12-19T00:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=354393"},"modified":"2023-12-19T02:02:35","modified_gmt":"2023-12-19T02:02:35","slug":"eye-catching-olympic-event-that-has-aussie-addicted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=354393","title":{"rendered":"'Eye-catching' Olympic event that has Aussie 'addicted'"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you spotted\ufeff sailors on the water at Botany Bay or off Woollahra last week, you probably saw members of the Australian sailing<\/a> team taking on Oceania's qualifying event for Paris 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Australia snared four quota places for the Olympic Games<\/a> at Sail Sydney, qualifying in the 49er, women's iQFOiL, mixed 470 and Nacra 17.<\/p>\n

It means Australia has earned quota places in nine of the 10\ufeff classes set to feature in Paris, having already qualified in the ILCA 7, ILCA 6, 49erFx, women's Formula Kite and men's iQFOiL at the Sailing World Championships in August, held in The Hague, the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

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The question beckons: what do the various class names mean?\ufeff<\/p>\n

All classes involve navigating a course marked with buoys, but the classes differ enormously.\ufeff<\/p>\n

ILCA 7\ufeff<\/h2>\n

This is a one-person men's dinghy event in which athletes compete in a boat with one sail and a hull that's 4.23 metres in length\ufeff.<\/p>\n

Australia's Matt Wearn won gold in the event at Tokyo 2020, then known as laser, and is expected to again be a major player in Paris. The Perth product secured an ILCA 7 quota place for Australia by winning gold at the World Championships.<\/p>\n

ILCA stands for International Laser Class Association.<\/p>\n

\"Australia's<\/p>\n

ILCA 6\ufeff<\/h2>\n

This is a one-person women's dinghy event. Like the ILCA 7, it has a hull that's 4.23 metres in length, but its sail is 18 per cent smaller. The event was known as laser radial at Tokyo 2020.<\/p>\n

Mara Stransky finished 10th at the World Championships to secure a Paris 2024 quota place for Australia in the ILCA 6.<\/p>\n

"I'd be beyond stoked [to compete at another Olympic Games]," Stransky, who placed 14th at Tokyo 2020, told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

"In the beginning Paris was my aim and Tokyo was just a little bit of a bonus and a really great experience, but I would say this time if I go to the Olympics it would be to be a lot more competitive. So I'm putting everything I hav\ufeffe into it at the moment."<\/p>\n

\"Australia's<\/p>\n

49er\ufeff<\/h2>\n

This is a two-person men's skiff event. Athletes compete in a boat that's 4.99 metres in length, hence the name "49er". The boat has a main sail, a jib and a spinnaker, the latter of which features the country's flag at the Olympic Games. While the helm generally makes tactical decisions and steers the boat, the crew takes on the bulk of the physical work and controls the sails.<\/p>\n

Australia acquired an Olympic Games quota place as Jim Colley and Shaun Connor took victory at Sail Sydney.<\/p>\n

49erFx<\/h2>\n

\ufeffThis is a two-person women's skiff event that evolved from the 49er and made its Olympic Games debut at Sydney 2000.<\/p>\n

Australia attained a Paris 2024 quota place through Oliva Price and Evie Haseldine<\/a>, who placed third at the World Championships.<\/p>\n

\"Australia's<\/p>\n

470<\/h2>\n

This is a two-person dinghy class set to be contested as a mixed event at Paris 2024. The length of the hull is 4.70 metres, hence the name "470", and the boat has a main sail, a jib and a spinnaker.<\/p>\n

Nia Jerwood and Conor Nicholas picked up a Paris 2024 quota place for Australia by winning\ufeff Sail Sydney.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffWe've actually known each other for a long time," Jerwood, speaking of teaming up with Nicholas, told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

"We started sailing against each other when we were kids in optis [a small one-person dinghy] and we've always been good friends. We get along pretty easily, we know when to have a laugh and a joke on the boat. I'd say we're pretty different personality-wise. On the boat Conor can be quite, I don't want to say highly strung, but very energetic, and I'm usually more of a calming influence, and if I need to get hyped up he helps in that department. So I think we balance each other out really nicely."<\/p>\n

\"Australian<\/p>\n

Formula Kite (men's and women's)\ufeff<\/h2>\n

\ufeffA new one-person discipline will join the Olympic Games as men and women contest the Formula Kite. Using a hand-controlled kite to navigate across water on a board, athletes can go about 55 kilometres per hour, tearing along on foils.<\/p>\n

Breiana Whitehead secured a women's Formula Kite Paris 2024 quota place\ufeff for Australia by finishing 11th at the World Championships. The Townsville product was then selected on the Australian Olympic team in November<\/a>.<\/p>\n

"It's definitely going to be eye-catching. We're fast, we crash, which always gets attention. It's intense racing … I'm a bit addicted to it now," Whitehead said at the selection announcement.<\/p>\n

"The challenge and the speed really makes everything quite intense … It's close to flying. Because you're out on the water everything goes quiet, and then you're on top, and it's really fast."<\/p>\n

\"Breiana<\/p>\n

iQFOiL (men's and women's)\ufeff<\/h2>\n

A new board will make its debut at Paris 2024 as iQFOiL replaces RS:X for the one-person men's and women's windsurfing events. The main difference between the boards is the iQFOiL is a foiling board so it can go considerably faster, hitting speeds of about 65 kilometres per hour. Operating on an iQFOiL board is easier physically because it's silent and smooth, but athletes must concentrate more on balancing the board and foils to achieve maximum speeds.<\/p>\n

Grae Morris achieved a Paris 2024 men's quota place for Australia\ufeff by placing ninth at the World Championships, while Samantha Costin charged to victory at Sail Sydney to grab a women's quota place in the iQFOiL.<\/p>\n

"It's a lot more cool [than RS:X],"\ufeff Morris told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffYou're going so fast. People who never really understood windsurfing can watch it a bit better and just get a feel for the speed. It just amps everything up a lot and makes it a lot more of an entertainment sport."<\/p>\n

\"Australia's<\/p>\n

Nacra 17\ufeff<\/h2>\n

Another mixed event by the name of Nacra 17 will feature in Paris. Athletes compete in a boat that is 17 feet in length, hence its name, and which has two hulls, making it a catamaran. The boat has a main sail, a jib and a spinnaker. Athletes can foil above the water at speeds in excess of 50 kilometres per hour.<\/p>\n

Brin Liddell and Rhiannon Brown clinched victory at Sail Sydney to attain a Paris 2024 quota place for Australia.\ufeff<\/p>\n

NACRA is an acronym meaning North American Catamaran Racing Association.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you spotted\ufeff sailors on the water at Botany Bay or off Woollahra last week, you probably saw members of the Australian sailing team taking […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":354395,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354393"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=354393"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":354401,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354393\/revisions\/354401"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/354395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=354393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=354393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=354393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}