World Championships to lay down Olympic marker for sailing contenders
Two Irish sailors begin competition in Adelaide tomorrow at the start of the national trials to decide Ireland's men's single-handed event representative for the Paris Olympic Games.
Six days of racing will decide the ILCA7 class world championships for the 152 competitors with Carlow's Finn Lynch (National Yacht Club) facing a challenge from Ewan McMahon (Howth Yacht Club) for the single place at Paris 2024.
The trials series includes two other championship grade regattas over the coming three months with the better sailor on the combined results of all three earning the coveted Irish Sailing nomination to the Olympic Federation of Ireland before the Summer.
Points awarded for each event are structured to allow both athletes focus solely on achieving their best results in each event rather than contesting one another solely to achieve selection.
On paper, Lynch is the more senior athlete having previously competed at the Rio 2016 Olympics and also qualified the nation for Paris last August.
McMahon is one of three sailing siblings including his sister Eve who recently secured her place for the Summer Games in the ILCA6 class world championships for the women's single-handed event.
However, McMahon lost his place in the official Irish senior squad last year after missing key performance goals but nevertheless announced his determination to continue an independent campaign.
"Both Finn and Ewan are extremely talented athletes but ultimately performance criteria are set for a reason," commented James O'Callaghan, Irish Sailing's Performance Director. "There's little doubt that we can expect both sailors to deliver strong race results over the coming week."
Racing is scheduled to commence in the early hours of Friday morning (Irish time) with the start of the qualification round where the large fleet is split into three groups who compete to decide the Gold, Silver and Bronze fleets for the second half of the regatta and the final round.
Securing a Gold fleet position is essential for both Irish boats though a top ten overall finishing place is essential for a place in the medal race final to decide the podium outcome.
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