The Scandinavian city of Aarhus is up against some big names, with the other bidding cities Buenos Aires in Argentina, Kingston in Canada, Busan in South Korea, Pomerania in Poland, Santander in Spain and The Hague in Holland.

The World Sailing Championships are a huge event, attracting more than 1,000 boats, 1,500 yachtsmen, 600 international media representatives and more than 6,000 accredited sailors and officials.

Lars Lundov, chief executive of Sport Event Denmark, said: "We are up against strong competitors, but with the right preliminary work we can succeed, just as we did in 2009 when Copenhagen won the right to host the IOC (International Olympic Committee) Session and Olympic Congress ahead of other strong competitors."

General secretary of the Danish Sailing Association, Dan Ibsen, said: "We acknowledge the strong competition we are facing, but at the same time we believe we stand a very good chance of winning.

"We are convinced that Denmark's is the strongest European bid."

Shortlisted cities must hand in their final bid on December 1 for evaluation in January