Aarhus International Sailing Center opens doors for World Championships

 From July 30 – August 12, 2018, the Aarhus International Sailing Center will welcome 1,500 sailors from around 100 countries and an estimated 400,000 visitors.  The sailors will be fighting for two prizes – medals in Aarhus and qualification for the Olympics. The Hempel Sailing World Championships Aarhus 2018 is the first big qualification event for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo and Enoshima (sailing).

“The Aarhus International Sailing Center will be the heart of the Hempel Sailing World Championships,” Lars Lundov, CEO of Sport Event Denmark, said. “We have been looking forward to this day and to the official opening as the Sailing Center will play an important role in the staging of the World Championships; sailors, spectators and media will come together here for a celebration of sailing in world-class surroundings.”

Country of coasts, city of sails, bay of champions – and a view from the sauna 

The Aarhus International Sailing Center is a jewel in the redeveloped Aarhus harbour area, Aarhus Ø. Designed by the architect firm Entasis, it looks out onto the World Championships competition area in the Bay of Aarhus. It is situated on one of the most beautiful spots in Aarhus with views to the sea, the city and the forest. 

“The building is also a grandstand for the medal race area; every part of it has been designed to view the racing – you’ll even be able to see the medal race from the sauna,” Thomas Capitani, General Manager of the Aarhus International Sailing Center, said. “There are lots of technical innovations, but the main purpose was to get non-sailors into sailing. The architectural buzzwords were to invite the outsiders inside and encourage the insiders to look outside. That is why the structure is so transparent and open. Sailing has sometimes seemed like a closed community that you don’t get into unless your grandfather had a boat 100 years ago. We want to sailing to be welcoming to non-sailors.”

The state-of-the-art facility shows Aarhus’s commitment to host a great World Championships and confirms it as one of world’s great sailing cities. The site has already been full of life since mid-April as local and national talent have been giving it a soft launch. The Danish national team, Aarhus’s sailing clubs and the youth initiatives have been filling up and testing the 3,000m² building. 

“We are very much looking forward to inviting athletes and guests from all over the world to the Sailing World Championships and the new Sailing Center in August,” Jacob Bundsgaard, Mayor of Aarhus said.

“The Aarhus International Sailing Center creates the opportunity to maintain and expand Aarhus's position as one of the great sailing cities in the world. The Sailing Center will be an obvious place to host competitions, training camps, and in the long term, many more major international sailing events.”