# Sailing World Championships

The Sailing World Championships (formerly ISAF Sailing World Championships) are World championships in sailing for the 10 events contested at the Summer Olympics, organized by World Sailing (formerly ISAF) and held every four years since 2003. In contrast to other years, when each class organise their World championship under supervision of World Sailing, they are the combined World championships for all the disciplines of the next Summer Olympics and serves as the major qualification event for it.

## History

In 1998, the ISAF World Sailing Championships were held in Dubai. The ISAF Sailing World Championships was held in Cádiz in 2003, followed by Cascais in 2007 and Perth in 2011.
In 2014, Santander hosted the 4th ISAF Sailing World Championships attracting more than 1,100 competitors, which distributed half of qualifications for the 2016 Summer Olympics sailing event.
The 2018 edition, in Aarhus, Denmark, saw the introduction of Formula Kite classes. The 2023 event, orginially scheduled for 2002, took place in The Hague, the Netherlands. The 2023 edition saw the introduction of para classes.
For the edition before the 2028 Summer Olympics, World Sailing decided to split the event into one championship for one-person events and one for two-person events, with the 2026 event awarded to Valencia, Spain, and the 2027 event awarded to Gdynia, Poland.

## Editions

| Year | City | Country | Dates | Events | Athletes | Nations |
| 2003 | Cádiz | Spain | 11–24 September | 11 | 1,450 | 71 |
| 2007 | Cascais | Portugal | 28 June – 13 July | 11 | 1,350 | 76 |
| 2011 | Perth | Australia | 3–18 December | 10 | 789 | 76 |
| 2014 | Santander | Spain | 8–21 September | 10 | 1,250 | 83 |
| 2018 | Aarhus | Denmark | 30 July – 12 August | 12 | 1,500 | 100 |
| 2023 | The Hague | Netherlands | 10–20 August | 14 | 1,100 | |

## Equipment

| Event | Class | Gender | Year | Year | Year | Year | Year | Year |
| | | | 03 | 07 | 11 | 14 | 18 | 23 |
| One-person dinghies | Europe | W | ● | | | | | |
| One-person dinghies | Finn | M | ● | | ● | ● | ● | |
| One-person dinghies | Finn | O | | ● | | | | |
| One-person dinghies | Laser | M | | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● |
| One-person dinghies | Laser | O | ● | | | | | |
| One-person dinghies | Laser Radial | W | | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● |
| Two-person dinghies | 470 | M | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | |
| Two-person dinghies | 470 | W | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | |
| Two-person dinghies | 470 | Mx | | | | | | ● |
| Two-person dinghies | 49er | M | | | ● | ● | ● | ● |
| Two-person dinghies | 49er | O | ● | ● | | | | |
| Two-person dinghies | 49er FX | W | | | | ● | ● | ● |
| Keelboats | Star | M | ● | ● | ● | | | |
| Keelboats | Yngling | W | ● | ● | | | | |
| Multihulls | Nacra 17 | Mx | | | | ● | ● | ● |
| Multihulls | Tornado | O | ● | ● | | | | |
| Boards | Formula Kite | M | | | | | Demo | ● |
| Boards | Formula Kite | W | | | | | Demo | ● |
| Boards | Mistral | M | ● | | | | | |
| Boards | Mistral | W | ● | | | | | |
| Boards | RS:X | M | | ● | ● | ● | ● | |
| Boards | RS:X | W | | ● | ● | ● | ● | |
| Boards | iQFoil | M | | | | | | ● |
| Boards | iQFoil | W | | | | | | ● |
| Match racing | Elliott 6m | W | | | ● | | |
| Disabled | Norlin Mk3 | O | | | | | | ● |
| Disabled | Hansa 303 | M | | | | | | ● |
| Disabled | Hansa 303 | W | | | | | | ● |
| Disabled | RS Connect | O | | | | | | ● |
| Total | Total | Total | 11 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 10 |
Legend: M – Men; W – Women; Mx – Mixed; O – Open;

## All-time medal table

    As of 19th May 2024
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Netherlands | 10 | 7 | 2 | 19 |
| 2 | France | 8 | 5 | 7 | 20 |
| 3 | Australia | 8 | 4 | 7 | 19 |
| 4 | Great Britain | 6 | 8 | 14 | 28 |
| 5 | United States | 4 | 1 | 3 | 8 |
| 6 | Brazil | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| 7 | Poland | 3 | 5 | 0 | 8 |
| 8 | Spain | 3 | 4 | 4 | 11 |
| 9 | Israel | 3 | 1 | 4 | 8 |
| 10 | Italy | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 |
| 11 | Japan | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| 12 | Hungary | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 13 | New Zealand | 1 | 5 | 3 | 9 |
| 14 | Germany | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 |
| 15 | Sweden | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| 16 | Belgium | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 16 | Croatia | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 18 | Austria | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 19 | Greece | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 19 | Portugal | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 21 | Norway | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 22 | Belarus | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 22 | Cyprus | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 22 | Singapore | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 25 | Denmark | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| 26 | Finland | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 26 | Switzerland | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 28 | Argentina | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 29 | Russia | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 29 | Slovenia | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 31 | Canada | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 31 | China | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 31 | Estonia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 31 | Ukraine | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (34 entries) | Totals (34 entries) | 68 | 68 | 68 | 204 |