One month after getting their first taste of Rio 2016 at the first sailing test event, the world’s top sailors have the opportunity to book their spots at the first Olympic Games to be staged in South America. From Friday 12 September to Sunday 21 September, more than 1,250 sailors in over 900 boats from 84 countries will take part in the 2014 ISAF Sailing World Championships in the Spanish city of Santander. It is the first sailing qualifying tournament for Rio 2016, with 138 places at the Olympic Games up for grabs, representing over half the total places available (274).

Current 49er class world champions and silver medallists at the London 2012 Olympic Games, Peter Burling and Blair Tuke from New Zealand, who also came out on top at the Rio 2016 test event, have set themselves two objectives when they compete in Santander: to win consecutive world titles and guarantee New Zealand a place at the Rio 2016 Games. “We are looking forward to it,” said Burling. “We are defending world champions, so we will try to defend that title there and hopefully qualify the country for the Games.”

France’s Charline Picon also excelled at the test event, winning the women’s RS:X windsurf class. She holds two world championship bronze medals (2009 and 2010) and is anxious to better her track record and qualify France for Rio 2016. “I am confident for the world championships in Santander, I am confident about qualification for my country,” she said. “Of course, my goal is to get there [Rio]. The test event was very good preparation.”

France's Charline Picon dominated the women's RS:X class at the first Rio 2016 test event (Photo: Rio 2016/Alex Ferro)

Ireland’s Annalise Murphy, who had to be contented with fourth place at London 2012, is one of the favourites in the Laser Radial class, but said she has to improve her consistency. “I've been pretty up and down this year but I'm going to try and do the simple stuff right and hopefully the results will come,” she said. “I want to have a good event and qualify the country for the Olympics. I'm looking forward to it, it's a big world championship and it's my goal of the year.”

Sailors at the world championships will compete in the 10 Olympic classes: men’s RS:X (18 Rio 2016 places available), women’s RS:X (13), Laser (23), Laser Radial (19), Finn (12), men’s 470 (13), women’s 470 (10), 49er (10), 49er FX (10) and Nacra 17 (10). Each country is allowed only one place in each class.

The Rio 2016 qualification places will be allocated to National Olympic Committees, who will decide with each country’s National Federation whether they will take up the places allocated and which athletes to send to the Games.

In total, 274 boats will compete in Guanabara Bay at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. In addition to the 138 that will qualify in Santander, a further 47 will win their places at the 2015 world championships and 75 at continental qualifiers held in 2015 and 2016. As the host country, Brazil will automatically be allocated a place in each of the 10 classes. The remaining four places will be by invitation by the International Sailing Federation.