Irish Sailing are delighted to share the news that Dun Laoghaire on Dublin Bay has won an international bid to stage, for the first time on Irish waters, an Olympic Class World Championships in the summer of 2026.
Ireland's biggest sailing centre is set to host the 2026 ILCA/Laser Men's and Women's World Championships, attracting multiple Olympic and World sailing champions to the Irish port for almost a month of international competition.
It marks the first time Ireland will hold a double Olympic-class event, putting a world sailing spotlight on Dun Laoghaire, two years out from the LA 2028 Olympic Games.
The Royal St George (RStGYC) and National Yacht Clubs (NYC) will serve as hosts, and the event is anticipated to attract extensive international media coverage, including live streams of the racing on Dublin Bay.
The host club commodores, Paul Molloy of the RStGYC and Peter Sherry of the NYC, signed the event contract this week, having won the bid against stiff competition from six other high-profile sailing venues.
The Men's Championships will run from 18th to 30th August, while the Women's Championships – in which Howth Olympian Eve McMahon will defend her 2025 bronze medal – will take place from 31st August to 12th September.
Up to 160 single-handed dinghy sailors will compete in the Men’s event that will include double Olympian Finn Lynch of the NYC (a world championship silver medalist in 2021), with 120 in the Women’s. Over 50 nations are expected to participate, showcasing top-tier talent including Olympic, World, and European medalists.
Each sailor will use identical new boats supplied by the organisers, ensuring a level playing field and will launch and retrieve from the town's Carlisle Pier.
The event is expected to generate a significant economic impact for Dun Laoghaire. An estimated 7,263 bed nights and a total economic value of over €1 million are projected during the championships. Irish Sailing, Sport Ireland and Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council backed the bid for hosting.
James O'Callaghan, Irish Sailing’s Performance Director stated, “Winning the right to host an Olympic Class World Championships in Ireland is a massive strategic win for our programme and athletes.”
Winning the event is a high-water mark for organisers who have previously staged World Championships but not at this scale. The hosting will follow Dun Laoghaire's staging of the 2025 World Sailing Conference this November, attracting 400 international delegates to the town, which is seen as a further boost to the harbour's regeneration that includes a new national watersports campus.
This article first appeared in Afloat