Who will claim the 2026 470 World Championship title in Enoshima?
by International 470 Class Association 10 Aug 14:05 BST
10-17 August 2026
470 World Championship © Junichi Hirai
The world's best 470 sailors are heading to Japan for the 2026 470 World Championships, taking place in Enoshima from 10-17 August.
With a record-breaking Mixed fleet expected on the starting line, the championship promises eight days of exciting racing featuring Olympic medallists, world champions, rising junior talents and newly formed teams beginning their Olympic campaign towards Los Angeles 2028.
The venue
Enoshima is well known to the sailing world as the venue of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, where the Olympic medals in the 470 class were decided. Among the medallists were Poland's Agnieszka Skrzypulec-Szota, who claimed silver alongside Jolanta Ogar-Hill, now her coach, and Sweden's Anton Dahlberg, who also won Olympic silver. Spain's Jordi Xammar secured the bronze medal.
Located on Sagami Bay, Enoshima offers a unique combination of challenging conditions. Sailors can expect strong thermal winds, high temperatures and significant tidal effects, making tactical decision-making just as important as boat speed. The venue is renowned for rewarding the most complete teams capable of adapting to constantly changing conditions.
Defending champions
All eyes will be on Spain's Jordi Xammar, who arrives in Japan aiming to defend the World Championship title for the third consecutive year.
Xammar first won the world title in Palma in 2024, before successfully defending it in Gdynia, Poland, in 2025 alongside Marta Cardona. Now, with another world title on the line, the Spanish skipper faces one of the toughest fleets ever assembled.
"The World Championship is the main goal of our season. It's been a long preparation: we started in March with the Europeans in Vilamoura, followed by Sofía in Palma and then Hyères. After the French event, we had a break from racing and focused on all the areas we had identified for improvement, particularly fine-tuning our technique. It's been several months of hard training to make sure we arrived here as well prepared as possible. We also spent some time in Los Angeles getting to know and testing the race area for the next Olympic Games. I think we've prepared well and we come into the Worlds with a good feeling.
So far, we've trained here for three days. We're lucky that Jordi competed at the Tokyo Olympics on this racecourse, where he won the bronze medal, so he has a lot of experience here and plenty of data from that time. Having all that previous knowledge of the venue is a very valuable tool for us going into the championship.
The strongest teams are more or less the usual ones, the crews that are up there fighting for the podium throughout the season, just like us: the British, the French, the Germans... They're strong rivals who are always in contention. But it's been quite a few months since we last raced, and everyone has been training hard during that time, so there could also be some surprises.
The World Championship is the main goal at the end of our season, and we'd really like to put together a good championship and hopefully defend our title", said Marta Cardona.
Last year's silver medallists, Germany's Simon Diesch and Anna Markfort, have also shown impressive form this season, including a strong performance at the recent pre-Olympic regatta in Los Angeles.
Among the strongest medal contenders are Britain's Martin Wrigley and Bettine Harris, who have enjoyed an outstanding 2026 campaign. The British duo claimed the European Championship title in Vilamoura, won the World Cup events in Palma and Hyères, and most recently topped the podium at the Los Angeles pre-Olympic regatta in San Pedro against many of the world's leading 470 teams.
"It's really nice to be back in Japan, it feels a bit like the home of the 470 with so many Japanese boats out on the water everyday! It's been a good season for us so far, and we're really excited to try and put everything together for the biggest event of the year", said Martin Wrigley.
Record fleet
A total of 74 teams have confirmed their participation, making this the largest 470 World Championship fleet of the season.
Crews from 28 nations across five continents will compete in Enoshima, including teams from countries such as Angola, Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea, India, Pakistan, and many more, highlighting the truly global nature of the class.
Returning to the fleet are the Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medallists, Sweden's Anton Dahlberg and Lovisa Karlsson. After stepping away from international competition following the Games, the Swedish pair returned this season and immediately demonstrated their class by finishing third at the Los Angeles pre-Olympic regatta.
Alongside the established stars, the championship will also feature many promising young crews eager to gain experience racing against the world's best.
Schedule
The championship begins with registration, equipment inspection and measurement on 10-11 August, followed by the Opening Ceremony.
Racing starts on 12 August, with the first two days dedicated to the Qualification Series. Following five qualifying races, the fleet will split into Gold and Silver Fleets for the final series, taking place from 14-16 August.
The championship concludes on 17 August with the Medal Race, where the top ten teams will battle for the world title.
For the final three days of racing from 15-17 August fans will also be able to watch the action through a live broadcast.