Some of the world’s leading sailing prospects will be in action when the 2017 Mussanah Race Week (MRW) takes place at Oman Sail’s racing centre at the Mussanah Sports City starting on January 18. 

The upcoming seventh edition of the MRW will feature 120 youngsters from 20 nations, vying for glory in the Optimist and Laser classes.

The competition proper will be held from January 18-21, while there will be coaching sessions and practice races from January 15.

Windsurfers will also get the opportunity to kick off their year with a medal as a new class, the Techno 293, is being rolled out, building on the success of RS:X World Windsurfing Championships that were held in Mussanah in 2015.

Among those taking part in the Optimist class are Malta’s Antonia Schulteis, 13, who won the girls' division title at the 2016 Optimist European Championships, and her 11 year old brother Richard.

Mewes Wieduwild from Germany, winner of the Optimist European Championships in Italy last year, will get the chance to pit his wits against recently-crowned South American Optimist champion Stefano Viale from Peru and Singaporean talent Daniel Kei, Asia’s Optimist champion.

Lucas Videla, Argentina’s young champion who finished an impressive sixth out of 250 contenders at the Optimist Worlds at Vilamoura, Portugal last June, will line up against Ryan Littlechild, a member of Australia’s National Optimist Squad who came second at the Australian Optimist Championships, and Sweden’s Marius Westerlind. Both boys finished in the top 20 at the worlds.

Prior to the January 18 start, Oman Sail will host a three-day training camp for all the sailors.

[codepeople-post-map]