2026 Shanghai Sailing Open Launches With New Youth Class

Caption: Shot by Dong Jun. Edited by Dong Jun.

The curtain has risen on the 2026 Shanghai Sailing Open at Dishui Lake in Pudong's Lingang area, with athletes from eight countries competing in the three classes of J80, ILCA6 and the new ILCA4 through Sunday.

The star athletes of this year's competition include Poland's seven-time ILCA6 World Champion Marcin Rudawski, Mozambique's two-time Olympian Deizy Nhaquile, current British ILCA6 men's No. 1 and 2023 World Championship bronze medalist Jonathan Emmett, and four-time Canadian national champion Victoria Coady.

2026 Shanghai Sailing Open Launches With New Youth Class

Credit: Ti Gong

Caption: Athlete representatives from China, Poland, Moldova, Britain, Malta, South Korea, Canada and Mozambique attended the opening ceremony at Dishui Lake on Wednesday evening.

Asia's first Olympic champion Xu Lijia from China will once again appear in the J80 class competition, joined by National Games champion Zhang Dongshuang.

The newly introduced ILCA4 youth sailing class uses a entry-level boat which is light, agile, stable and safe to operate. The new class provides young sailors with a high-level national competition platform.

Those interested can scan the QR code below to watch the live broadcast of the competition.