At the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, sailing events will see a variety of vessels competing on the waters of Marseille from Sunday, July 28, to Thursday, August 8.

Here is a breakdown of the top sailors, potential breakout stars and biggest storylines to watch in Paris.

Paris will mark the Olympic debut of the iQFoil class, which brings with it a much faster board than its predecessor, the RS:X which was used in Olympic competition from 2008 to 2020. The iQFoil is a modern, high-performance windsurfing board equipped with a hydrofoil. 

Since 2012, Dutch windsurfers have dominated the men’s event, starting with Dorian van Rijsselberghe’s back-to-back Olympic victories. Kiran Badloe, an Olympic debutant, continued this streak with a gold medal in Tokyo. Now the 2023 world champion, Luuc van Opzeeland, will try to uphold the Netherlands' stronghold on the sport.

Having competed in windsurfing since he was 11, van Opzeeland has ambitious goals beyond just making the podium in Paris: He aims to secure consecutive gold medals at both Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028. "Yes, you’re reading it right: Olympic gold back-to-back," van Opzeeland stated in a Severne post. "That’s the mission. It’s the dream I have been chasing for the last 10 years — a road I drive my way."

He may face his toughest challenge from France’s Nicolas Goyard, the 2021 world champion who won the Olympic test event and is currently ranked No. 1 in the world. Goyard also secured a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago.

On the women’s side, no Israeli has ever won an Olympic sailing medal, but Sharon Kantor, the 2024 world champion, is poised to change that. Emma Wilson from Great Britain, who won bronze in Tokyo, finished third at the 2023 World Championships and was runner-up to Kantor at 2024 Worlds is also a strong contender. Kantor defeated Wilson at the Olympic test event in July 2023.

On the men’s side, Australia has secured three of the last four Olympic gold medals in this event and features one of the world’s top crews, Jim Colley and Shaun Connor, who have been sailing together for over a decade. However, the impressive Dutch pair of Bart Lambriex and Floris van de Werken have claimed three consecutive world titles and won the Olympic test event in July 2023, where Colley and Connor finished in a distant seventh place. Lambriex aims to improve on his sixth-place finish from Tokyo, while Paris will mark van de Werken’s Olympic debut.

France will also have a strong contender in Erwan Fischer and Clement Pequin, who finished third at the Olympic test event, with both making their Olympic debuts.

Until proven otherwise, the Brazilian duo Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze dominate this event on the women’s side, having secured the only gold medals since its introduction in 2016 and defended their Olympic titles twice. At the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, their toughest competition came from a Dutch crew, and they are expected to face similar challenges in Paris.

This time, they will contend with Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz, who finished second at the 2023 World Championships. Duetz, who won a bronze medal in 2020 with Annemiek Bekkering, will be joined by van Aanholt, who is making her Olympic debut in Paris. In the Olympic test event held in July 2023, van Aanholt and Duetz secured first place, while Grael and Kunze finished a distant second.

France’s Charline Picon, the 2016 gold medalist and Tokyo silver medalist in women’s windsurfing, returns to the Olympics, this time competing in the women’s skiff event with teammate Sarah Steyaert. The duo is aiming to secure France’s first medal in this event.

In Tokyo, Matt Wearn became the third different Australian man in a row to win a gold medal in the men’s Laser class. Wearn, the 2023 world champion who chose sailing over a potential career in Australian football, arrives in France as the clear favorite for gold. However, Croatia’s Tonci Stipanovic, who has earned silver in the last two Olympics, will be a formidable competitor.

Pavlos Kontides of Cyprus, the 2012 silver medalist, is set to make his fifth Olympic appearance, while Great Britain’s Michael Beckett, who finished second to Wearn at the 2023 World Championships, could make an impact in his Olympic debut.

Paris might also be a breakthrough moment for French sailor Jean-Baptiste Bernaz, who finished second to Wearn at the Olympic test event in July 2023. Bernaz, who will turn 37 on July 18, is also making his fifth Olympic appearance.

The ongoing rivalry between Denmark’s Anne-Marie Rindom, the Tokyo gold medalist and 2016 bronze medalist, and the Netherland’s Marit Bouwmeester, the 2016 gold medalist, is likely to persist through the Paris Games, with several newcomers aiming to challenge the established leaders.

Rindom and Bouwmeester have traded world and Olympic titles over the past decade, including at the 2023 World Championships, where Bouwmeester narrowly edged out Rindom for a podium spot. The Olympic test event in July 2023 may offer a glimpse of what to expect at the Games, as Bouwmeester won decisively over Rindom, with Italy’s Chiara Benini Floriani finishing third. Bouwmeester also holds a 2012 silver medal and a 2020 bronze in this event, and in Paris, she aims to become the second woman to win four Olympic sailing medals, joining Italy’s Alessandra Sensini.

In addition to contending with each other, Rindom and Bouwmeester will also face strong competition from Emma Plasschaert of Belgium, who finished fourth in Tokyo, and Maria Erdi of Hungary, the 2023 world champion and two-time Olympian.

For the first time in Olympic history, the 470 class will be held as a mixed event instead of separate men’s and women’s races. This change has achieved full gender equity in the Olympic sailing program.

The Japanese team of Keiju Okada and Miho Yoshioka secured the 2023 world title. Spanish sailor Jordi Xammar, a two-time Olympian and Tokyo bronze medalist in the men’s 470, is expected to compete for gold alongside his crewmate Nora Brugman, who will be making her Olympic debut. Xammar and Brugman finished second at the 2023 World Championships behind Okada and Yoshioka.

The mixed multihull event will be held for the third time at the Olympics in Paris, where the Tokyo medalists are expected to be strong contenders once again. In a repeat of the Tokyo Olympics, Italy's reigning gold medalists, Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti, secured the 2023 world title, finishing ahead of Tokyo silver medalists John Gimson and Anna Burnet from Great Britain, who were runners-up. Gimson and Burnet also took third place at the Olympic test event in July 2023. The Italian and British teams will likely face competition from Germany’s Paul Kohlhoff and Alica Stuhlemmer, the Tokyo bronze medalists who finished seventh at the 2023 World Championships.

Kiteboarding, a new sailing discipline, will make its Olympic debut in 2024. Athletes are attached to a kite and glide across the water on a board, achieving speeds of up to 46 miles per hour and jumping as high as 20 feet.

On the men's side, reigning world champion Max Maeder of Singapore will compete for the event’s first Olympic gold medal. Maeder is a strong contender against France’s Axel Mazella, the 2017 and 2019 world champion who also won the Olympic test event in September 2023.

Slovenia’s Toni Vodisek, the 2022 world champion, will also be a gold medal hopeful in his Olympic debut. Vodisek has the chance to become only the second Slovenian to win an Olympic sailing medal, following Vasilij Zbogar, a three-time medalist with two medals (2004 bronze, 2008 silver) in men’s dinghy and one medal (2016 silver) in men’s heavyweight dinghy.

On the women’s side, American Daniela Moroz, a six-time world champion, is a leading contender for the gold medal. However, Moroz’s previous dominance at the world championships was interrupted in 2023 when France’s Lauriane Nolot emerged as the top performer, having placed third in 2021 and second in 2022. Nolot also secured first place at the Olympic test event in July 2023 and aims to be a significant challenger in her Olympic debut.

Great Britain’s Ellie Aldridge, who finished second at both the 2023 World Championships and the Olympic test event, will also be a strong contender for gold in Paris.