Quest for Olympic Virtual Sailing glory to begin on 17 March 2023

by World Sailing 1 Mar 2023 23:03 AEDT 17 March - 5 May 2023

Olympic Virtual Sailing © World Sailing

World Sailing and Virtual Regatta have joined forces once again to offer players from around the world the opportunity to test themselves against the best and become an Olympic Esports Series winner as part of the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Olympic Esports Series 2023.

Competition in the Olympic Esports Series 2023 will take place over two categories. A 30-day Offshore endurance race around the world and and an Inshore competition featuring multiple classes including the Nacra 17, 49er, ILCA.

The offshore category will tour the world's virtual oceans as players sailing the Ultime, one of the sport's fastest classes, race around the world starting and finishing in Singapore, where the Olympic Esports Series finals will take place.

Registration for this category opens Wednesday 1 March and participants can sign up here. The race itself will take place from Friday 31 March until Tuesday 2 May.

The action for the inshore category begins on 17 March 2023 with the first of eight qualifiers. The top player from each of the qualifier finals will advance to the live finals, held during the Olympic Esports Week in Singapore. They will be joined by the top male player and top female player with the highest ranking throughout the qualifiers.

The live final will be held from Thursday 22 June until Sunday 25 June as part of the inaugural Olympic Esports Week at the Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre where the top 3 players from the offshore category will be awarded with their trophies.

Sailing joins eight sports already confirmed for the event. The live final will feature archery (Tic Tac Bow), Baseball (WBSC eBASEBALL™: POWER PROS), Chess (Chess.com), Cycling (Zwift), Dance (JustDance), Tennis (Tennis Clash), Taekwondo (Virtual Taekwondo) and Motorsport (Gran Turismo).

World Sailing Commercial Director, Scott Over, said, "The growth in popularity of esailing over the past five years has been incredible, as shown with the success of the previous series ahead of Tokyo 2020 that attracted over 250,000 players from 100 countries. Virtual Regatta is the most popular sailing game in the world with more than one million players per year.

"We are looking forward to seeing the fierce competition for places over the coming months as players race to book their spot in Singapore and the chance to compete live in front of fans for the prestigious title of Olympic Esports Series winner."

Virtual Regatta founder, Philippe Guigné said, "This is the second time Virtual Regatta has featured following the inaugural series in 2021. We are really proud to represent sailing in esports alongside some amazing publishers and international sports federations.

"The OES is a key component on the esailing calendar and with the introduction of the live event in Singapore, it's going to be an amazing showcase of competition and community."

Olympic Esports Series inshore qualification events: