Olympic sailing returns to the Mar Menor after 24 years with Formula Kite

This year, Los Alcázares will host the European Formula Kite Championship from 16 to 24 March, just over three months before the great Paris 2024 Olympic Games

The Mar Menor will once again be the scene of an Olympic class event, after 24 years since its last regatta. It is worth remembering that it was in 1996 when it hosted a selection event, and four years later, in 2000, it organised the European class in its waters.

Thus, between 16 and 24 March 2024, the Region of Murcia will witness the 2024 Formula Kite European Championship, a class that will make its debut in the Olympic programme a few months later, at the Paris 2024 event.

The best athletes in this discipline will therefore be visiting us in the Mar Menor shortly. It will undoubtedly be a great opportunity for all sailing lovers in Murcia to see in action and enjoy the talent of the best kite racers.

The event of the CN Mar Menor, the organizing club together with the IKA (International Kiteboarding Association), EUROSAF (European Sailing Federation) and Univela Sailing, will have a very high media impact, both for the level of the racers and for the number of visitors who will come to attend the event. This competition will undoubtedly be a great showcase for the Mar Menor and the city of Los Alcázares, as well as for the Region of Murcia, placing it once again at the forefront of world sailing.

This European Championship has a strict selection and participation system: the regatta is designed to prioritize quality over quantity of its participants, and for this reason, their participation is limited with closed numbers by country and gender. In this case, there will be 150 participating athletes, 90 boys and 60 girls, with an almost endless waiting list that, through strict order of international ranking and countries, will cover any possible last-minute withdrawals.

This regatta, which can be followed live via streaming and broadcast by 170 TV channels in 70 countries, is a grade 100 in the World Sailing ranking, meaning it has the highest possible score in its category.

As it is an Olympic event, all participants have a multidisciplinary team that accompanies them in their races: coaches, physical trainers, technical and regulation advisors, etc., also counting in many cases with the technical assistance of commercial brands of kite or paraglider manufacturers.

Taking these aspects into account, and following the statistics from the previous edition of this championship in the United Kingdom, it is estimated that the event in Los Alcázares – «a city friendly to sailing» – will be attended by more than 500 people who will participate directly in the event, to which we must also include the dozens of fans from all over Europe who will come to not miss a detail of such an impressive sporting event. As for the economic aspect, it is estimated that the direct impact on the region will exceed 2,5 million euros, considering the time of the competition and the days leading up to it.