40% of the World Championships of Olympic classes that will be held this 2023 have chosen the port of Marina Rubicón in Lanzarote as their venue. In the next three months, this space will host the closing of the Olympic flying windfurf season, as well as the fourth edition of the Lanzarote International Regatta, which includes the world championships of IQFOil, male and female, 49er and 49erFX.
Lanzarote is serving as a base for sailing training. This is how the world's pre-Olympic elite disseminates it on social networks. Since last October, the port of Marina Rubicón has hosted a network of sailors and coaches preparing for the Olympic Games on the island. The good climate, as well as the wind of the island is crucial for sailing.
Aware of the unique potential that the island has for the practice of this sport, the training base Lanzarote Sailing Center was created by Marina Rubicón “not only to attract and support these athletes but also to give Canarian athletes the tools so that they can arrive with options to represent Spain in future Olympic Games,” explains its CEO, Rafa Lasso.
This 2024, years of work bear fruit with the celebration, under the umbrella of the Lanzarote International Regatta, of events as important as world championships always are. And they will not be the only sailing events we will see on the island.
“Normally in an Olympic year like 2024, the World Championships would be held in the southern hemisphere as they must be held in winter so that the last qualifying places for the Games are awarded,” explains Lasso. However, Lanzarote has managed to be the exception that confirms the rule: “The classes and sailors have found in Lanzarote a place in the northern hemisphere where they can sail in winter, sailors from up to 75 countries will be training here this winter and they themselves expressed to their classes their desire for these championships to be held in Marina Rubicón. We, with the support of the Canarian institutions, have been working for some time on different technical and logistical aspects to make these World Championships a success,” he says.
Lanzarote iQFOiL Games, the starting gun for official competitions
After the success of those held last January, athletes wanted to return and from December 10 to 15 Marina Rubicón will host the Lanzarote iQFOiL Games, which will feature the participation of more than 160 windsurfers from 35 countries in Asia, America, Oceania and Europe.
iQFOiL is the spectacular new Olympic windsurfing class, in which athletes reach speeds of over 40 km/h. Described by many of them as “addictive”, the Spanish Pilar Lamadrid, number 2 in the world ranking, described it to the Andalusian Sailing Federation: “It is much more visual and striking, because with no wind we can fly at 20 knots and all the effort we make rowing on the board is much more reflected than on conventional boards”.
Champion of the past edition, her name is not missing from the list of participants of the Lanzarote iQFOiL Games, as is the name of the current male winner – the Polish Pawel Tarnowski – nor that of the current world champions, the Dutchman Luuc Van Opzeeland and the Israeli Shahar Tibi.
World Championships of iQFOiL, 49er and 49erFX under the umbrella of the 'Lanzarote International Regatta'
The Lanzarote International Regatta changes its format
