Racing begins today on Riddarfjärden and the atmosphere around the Race Village is intense. People are moving in every direction, final details are being checked and the countdown to kickoff is on.

The Race Village is taking shape, fast.

Tents, boats, technology, food and exhibitors are coming together at Holger Bloms Plats on Norr Mälarstrand. The result is becoming much more than a base for the competitors. It is turning into a meeting place where sailing, innovation, sustainability and the city come together.

Making Team Racing easier to understand

Another important presence in the Race Village is the team behind View Regatta, an innovative system designed to make sailing more accessible to a much wider audience.

View Regatta combines smartphones, real-time data, 3D graphics and artificial intelligence to turn the complexity of racing into an experience that is easier to understand and more exciting to follow.

The team is already testing the system ahead of the first races, working alongside the event production team and race officials.

The ambition is clear: to help bring sailing closer to people who may not already understand the tactics, rules and split-second decisions that make racing so exciting.

96 sailors arrive in Stockholm

At the same time, the competitors are making their final preparations.

The 96 sailors representing the participating nations are gradually making their way into the Race Village, meeting competitors from around the world and preparing for the first races.

For some, Stockholm is familiar territory. For others, it is their first visit to Sweden and their first experience of racing on Riddarfjärden.

The youngest sailor in Stockholm is almost certainly Tsubaki Kondo, the one year old daughter of Wataru Kondo, onboard with the Japanese team, ensuring the event brings another generation into the international Team Racing community.

Sustainability starts on shore

Sustainability is also visible throughout the Race Village.

Competitors, officials and visitors are being given clear information about waste sorting and how to minimise unnecessary waste during the Championship. Clearly marked sorting stations, provided together with Stena Recycling, are being installed throughout the venue.

Water is another central part of the sustainability work.

Instead of single-use plastic bottles, refill stations are being used throughout the Race Village. The Championship has also partnered with Bluewater, whose purification system provides drinking water from the water being sailed on, Riddarfjärden.

It is a powerful reminder that the Championship is taking place directly on one of Stockholm’s most important waterways.

The goal is not simply to reduce the environmental footprint of the event, but to use the Championship as an opportunity to demonstrate what a more sustainable sporting event can look like.

Sailing with your sibling

Two sibling pairs are among the sailors in Stockholm for the World Championship – and both agree that sailing with your brother comes with its own special kind of diplomacy.

Ines Karlemo and her brother Lucas, representing Finland, have not sailed together regularly for very long. Coming from a sailing family in Espoo, they have shared a boat from time to time.

“You get frustrated more easily with your sibling,” Ines says. “But the good thing is that it goes away very quickly. Two seconds later, everything is completely normal again.”

For Swedish sailors Lukas and Fabian Bergman, sailing together is equally familiar, but they have discovered that being on different boats works best.

“We think very differently about sailing,” Lukas says. “You might think that because you are brothers, you understand each other well. But we actually approach situations quite differently.”

That can be a strength, he adds, especially because they communicate in much the same way.

“We say similar things and even sound similar, which can be reassuring for the crew.”

Both pairs come from sailing families. And both admit that sailing was not necessarily their idea as children.

“We were basically forced into it,” Lukas says. “Our parents thought: let’s keep going until they break.”

It seems to have worked. Both brothers are now competing at a World Championship – and, in the Bergman family, Lukas and Fabian have even managed to beat their father in the qualification process.

One day to go

With the Race Village rapidly taking shape, the boats being prepared and the technology being tested, the final hours before the Championship are now underway.

Tomorrow, the atmosphere will change.

The nervous energy of preparation will give way to the intensity of racing. The first starts are scheduled for 09:30, with the world’s top Team Racing sailors taking to a compact racing area just off Norr Mälarstrand.

From the shore, spectators will be able to follow the action at close range.

And after years of planning, preparation and hard work, the 2026 Team Racing World Championship will finally be underway.

Text courtesy of 2026 Team Racing World Championship. Images copyright Malcolm Hanes.