Get to know Marseille: The new Olympic sailing venue for Paris 2024

Sailing 19 Jul 23

Over 400 miles away from the bustling French capital of Paris, there's another Olympic venue ready to explode.

Meet Marseille: the Paris 2024 Olympic Games venue for sailing.

As Paris transforms into the capital of sport next summer, the world's best sailors will descend on the Roucas-Blanc Marina, with a total of 10 events taking place on the water.

But the country's oldest city is not to be taken lightly, providing some unique and difficult challenges for the Olympic class of 2024.

The venue

It could be said that Marseille is a meteorologist's worst nightmare.

Whether it's glaring sun or bustling winds, the city has it all.

Part of the Mediterranean Sea, the area is populated by rugged coastal tides and surrounded by the vast mountain ranges of Sainte-Baume and Etoile.

The geography, mixed with a hot Mediterranean climate and dry winds from the Sahara, make the Marseille Marina an unpredictable and tough venue for sailing.

Knowledge that ILCA 7 sailor and two-time Trofeo Princesa Sofia winner Michael Beckett is acutely aware of.

“Marseille is an incredibly hectic place," said Beckett. 

"It’s an incredibly tough place to sail - very unpredictable, very hot, very hectic on and off the water.

"It’s a very narrow shaped bay with high land all around it. You’ve got a big, bustling, hot city and in terms of the meteorology of the place, there’s a lot going on.

"In Tokyo we had onshore breezes that were quite predictable and generally quite stable.

"This couldn’t be more different. You can have flat water, you can have really strong winds that blow everything away.

"You can also have days where lots of wind is forecast but you go out on the water and it’s just a calm, hot, sunny day.

"Managing expectations there will be absolutely critical.”

The dress rehearsal

The top British sailors recently took part in the Olympic Test Event in Marseille, a key chance to test the waters ahead of next summer.

And the most successful national Olympic sailing team of all time came away with four silver medals and one bronze after a week of intense competition.

But it was the learnings taken from the conditions of Marseille that were most vital, with Freya Black, silver medallist in the women's 49er FX sailor alongside Olympian Saskia Tidey, noting the heat of the venue as one of her biggest competitors.

"Marseille is a challenging venue and I think it will definitely reward a versatile sailor," she said.

"You can get any kind of conditions on any given day here which I think is really cool.

"It's great being in 28 degrees weather but I definitely need to adapt to it a bit quicker!"

Tokyo 2020 silver medallists Anna Burnet and John Gimson clinched bronze in the mixed NACRA 17 after a week of mixed results at the Test event.

And with the atmosphere of a mock Olympics in the air, Burnet was relishing being back in the unique environment.

"In one word, I would describe Marseille as 'challenging'," said Burnet.

"As an Olympic venue, it's a small bay surrounded by lots of high and hot land, it's unpredictable and all our weather people will have a hard job.

"But it's a venue that if we can get right going forward, it can be good.

"It's funny getting back into that Olympic bubble and it's quite a different team for us this time compared to Tokyo with a lot of new faces."

Sportsbeat 2023

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