Olympic Virtual Series

World Sailing, supported by Virtual Regatta, the leading digital sailing platform, have partnered with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to join the Olympic Virtual Series (OVS).

The first-ever Olympic-licensed event for physical and non-physical virtual sports will mobilise virtual sport and gaming enthusiasts all around the world in order to reach new Olympic audiences. Taking place from 13 May through to 23 June 2021, the OVS will also encourage the development of physical and non-physical virtual forms of sports, with a focus on regulating fair competition and respecting the values of sport in these virtual forms, in line with the recommendations of the IOC’s Olympic Agenda 2020+5.

Other International Federations participating in the OVS include the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), World Rowing (WR), and Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA).

World Sailing will run a series of Inshore events and one longer Offshore event on Virtual Regatta.

Inshore

Starting on 20 May, the Inshore series will begin with three qualifier events, each one in a different Olympic discipline – the 49er, ILCA Dinghy and Nacra 17.

Each of these qualifiers will include a practice stage, a qualification stage and a final stage.

Following these three Qualifiers, an additional week-long mixed-class Qualifier will run at the same time as the Sailing event at Tokyo 2020. A mixed-class Grand Final will then be held on 4 August, inviting the top 20 players to compete.

Details on the Inshore series are as follows:

• Olympic Virtual Series, Qualifier 1: ILCA Dinghy, 20 – 25 May
• Olympic Virtual Series, Qualifier 2: 49er, 3 – 6 June
• Olympic Virtual Series, Qualifier 3: Nacra 17, 17 – 23 June
• Tokyo 2020, Qualifier 4: Mixed Olympic Classes, 23 July – 3 August
• Olympic Grand Final: Mixed Olympic Classes, 4 August

Offshore

The Offshore event, ‘Race to Tokyo 2020,’ will be a race from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, home of the last Olympic Games in 2016, to Tokyo, home of the next Olympic Games.

This will start on 28 May, with those in the leading pack likely to finish in around 26 days, and will be raced in a customed-designed ultra-fast Ultime boat. Competitors have the option to race in four different routes to get to Tokyo. 

Players can choose to go round either Cape Horn or the Cape of Good Hope, or race through the Arctic in an easterly or westerly direction – so the decision on the fastest route is down to the sailors themselves.