VILAMOURA SECURES THE 2026 YOUTH SAILING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

It will be the first time in the history of the Youth Sailing World Championships that the same city and country host the official event in two consecutive years.

Following the success of this year’s Youth Sailing World Championship 2025, the world championship will return to Vilamoura in 2026. This year’s edition was one of the largest ever, with the participation of 424 sailors from 67 countries, competing across the 29er, ILCA 6, Nacra 15, 420, iQFOiL and Formula Kite classes.

“This week we were awarded by World Sailing, perhaps as a result of this year’s excellent performance, with the organisation of the 2026 edition. For next year, together with the International Federation, our goal is to reach 80 participating countries,” announced Nuno Reis, CEO and Founder of Vilamoura Sailing.

“For several years we have been the world’s largest dinghy sailing centre, in terms of the number of athletes and Olympic teams based here between September and March. Our objective with these junior events is to introduce young sailors and future Olympic athletes to our project in Vilamoura. Moreover, having the courage to host an event of this scale again in December is extremely important for the local economy,” the CEO added.

This Friday marked the final day of competition of the World Championships. From a national perspective, the highlight was Madalena Wanzeller, who, after finishing 6th overall on the third day of racing, concluded her participation in 13th place overall among the 49 sailors competing in the ILCA 6 class.

“I am very proud to be here representing Portugal. It was a championship with ups and downs, but I was pleased with my performance. My goal was to finish within the top fifteen and that was achieved. I know I will take valuable knowledge from this experience that will help me improve in the future,” said the sailor from Barreiro.

In the men’s competition, the standout performance came from Diogo Borges de Sousa, who, despite physical limitations after breaking a finger two weeks before the start of the championship, finished 15th overall among the 38 competitors in the iQFOiL (windsurfing) class.

“I’m happy. I made some mistakes during the races, but I learned a lot. I leave here as a more tactical athlete and also realised that I need to gain some weight. I still have the opportunity to compete in two more world championships and my goal is to continue improving. Finishing second in one race was amazing, and next time it will be a first place,” said the 16-year-old sailor, who is expected to return to Vilamoura for the event in 2026.

The new Youth World Champions in the men’s and women’s categories respectively are: David Coates (USA) and Irene De Tomás (Spain) in the ILCA class; Peleg Rajuan (Israel) and Medea Falcioni (Italy) in iQFOiL Windsurf; Gian Stragiotti (Switzerland) and Suofeiya Li (China) in Formula Kite; Sviatoslav Madonich and Dmytro Karabadzhak (Ukraine), and Sabine Potter and Merle Nieuwland (Great Britain) in the 420 class; Szymon Kolka and Bartosz Zmudzinski (Poland), and Lila Edwards and Amelie Hiscocks (Great Britain) in the 29er class; and Lorenzo Sirena and Alice Dessy (Italy) in the Nacra 15 class.

The Youth Sailing World Championships were supported by Marina de Vilamoura, Loulé City Council, Turismo de Portugal and IPDJ.