For more than 50 years, the elite of Olympic sailing have been journeying to Hyères, the historic jewel of the French Riviera, at the end of April.
Over the years, the Semaine Olympique Française de Hyères - TPM has become an unmissable event for every national team. In 2023, for its 54th edition, Hyères will have the pleasure of once again welcoming the world’s best Olympic sailors in preparation for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
With almost 1,000 athletes from over 60 countries, the Semaine Olympique Française in Hyères is — along with the Trofeo Princesa Sofía this week — a Mediterranean event not to be missed for the Olympic elite, with under a year-and-a-half until Paris 2024.
Like every year, “La SOF” continues to stage an event exclusively dedicated to the 10 Olympic classes. ILCA (women’s and men’s single-handed dinghy), 49er (women’s and men’s double-handed dinghy), Nacra 17 (mixed double-handed catamaran), 470 (mixed double-handed dinghy), Formula Kite (women’s and men’s kitefoil) and iQFOiL (women’s and men’s windfoil) will compete on the Hyérois waters less than 500 days before the first Olympic events.
Olympic champions from Tokyo 2020 and Rio 2016 competing in Hyères next month will include the likes of Brazil’s Martine Grael (49erFX double gold medallist), Italians Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti (Nacra 17 mixed), Australians Matt Wearn (gold in Tokyo) and Tom Burton (gold in Rio) in the ILCA 7, and China’s Lu Yunxiu (gold in the women’s RS:X in Tokyo) in the iQFOiL.
The event, coming during the school holidays, will be freely open to all and in particular to children, who will be able to get close to the best sailors in the world. There will be a multitude of onshore events to introduce sailing to as many people as possible.
Following reception and registration over the weekend of Friday 21 to Sunday 23 April, the opening ceremony takes place on Monday 24 April which also sees the start of the week-long qualifying phase, before the medal races, prize-giving and closing ceremony on Saturday 29 April.
Also, be sure to save the dates for next year’s Semaine Olympique Française, the 55th edition from 20-27 April 2024 just weeks before the Paris Games.