Scheduled to take place from July 30 to August 12, Aarhus 2018 is the first and most significant qualification event for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, with 40 per cent of the nation quota places available across the 10 Olympic events.

It will also see men's and women's kiteboarding introduced into the World Championships for the first time.

Entries will be awarded to Member National Authorities (MNAs) in a set order until the quota in each of the 12 events is filled.  

Every MNA will be given one entry per event if requested by November 1, 2017 and paid by December 1, 2017.

Places will also be awarded based on the 2017 World Championships and the World Sailing rankings as of December 15, 2017.

Any places not already given and paid by February 16, 2018 will be reserved to the Aarhus Qualification Commission, which is due to be appointed by World Sailing in November of this year, and may be awarded on a discretionary basis.

Entries for places available after March 15, 2018 will be first come, first serve.

All aforementioned entries are awarded to the respective MNAs, which will determine the athletes to fill those entries.

Athlete names must be provided by the MNA to the Aarhus Organising Authority no later than July 15, 2018 through the online entry system, except for those entries that may be awarded after that date.

Organised in a collaboration between World Sailing, Dansk Sejlunion, Sailing Aarhus, Sport Event Denmark and the City of Aarhus, the 2018 World Championships is expected to attract more than 100 nations to this year's European Capital of Culture and set new standards for both sailors and spectators.

"Excellent progress continues to be made by the Aarhus 2018 Organising Committee and the local authorities," Alastair Fox, director of events at World Sailing, said.

"The team have set ambitious targets that will make the Championships memorable not only for the attending sailors but also to spectators and those following the event around the world.

"The qualification system for the Aarhus 2018 Worlds offers every World Sailing Member National Authority one entry per event.

"This will enable Aarhus 2018 to attract a record number of nations."

Klaus Natorp, head of the Aarhus 2018 Sailing World Championships, added: "All four partners behind the event: the City of Aarhus, Sport Event Denmark, the Danish Sailing Association and Sailing Aarhus are setting all sails in their efforts to make the Aarhus 2018 Sailing World Championships a truly memorable event that will combine world class sailing and a maritime festival for thousands of sailors and spectators.

"Our teams of volunteers are fully engaged in their training and education programme and they are showing great enthusiasm and professionalism which reflect Denmark's long track record of executing world class sailing events.

"It will be fantastic to host teams from up to 100 different nations and share the celebration of the city's return to the sea with the brand new sailing centre at the tip of the urban development of the docklands of Aarhus."

The Sailing World Championships are held every four years and provide the platform for the largest gathering of Olympic class sailors.

At the 2014 edition in Spanish city Santander, more than 1,100 sailors from 82 nations attended with hundreds of thousands of spectators taking to the promenade and spectator dune.

The Aarhus 2018 qualification system can be accessed by clicking here, while the test event qualification system is available here.