Crucial day ahead as Irish sailors keep podium firmly in sight at Paris Olympics
For a third consecutive day in Marseille (Tuesday 30th July 2024) Ireland's Robert Dickson (Howth Yacht Club) and Sean Waddilove (Skerries Sailing Club) are holding second overall in the men's skiff event of the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Wind conditions for the third day were markedly different, ranging from fresh and gusty to near calm at times that saw almost all the top contenders suffer high scores.
Dickson and Waddilove had their own mixed fortunes for the day, opening with a fourth place then taking 13th before finishing up with a ninth place. Those scores were sufficient to hold second place while the New Zealand leaders swapped places with Spain who moved from third to first place.
The fourth and final day of fleet racing is scheduled to begin tomorrow at 1pm (GMT) when three further races will conclude the round and the top ten placed boats go forward to Thursday's short medal race final.
With another day of mixed conditions expected, anything is possible but for Dickson and Waddilove, the key will be following what is now a proven formula of taking one race at a time and not permitting the significance of the occasion to overcome their emotions.
"I feel the same as I did at the beginning of the week; I think our process is to just take it race by race and not get too emotional with everything which seems to be working," said Sean Waddilove. "I think the best way to stay on the results card up at the top end is to stay pretty neutral; you can't get too happy about things and you can't get too disappointed about things either, especially on a day like today that has massive up and downs in the fleet."
As the Dublin crew sailed ashore, they were greeted with a loud roar from the crowd gathered along the pier wall at Marina Roucas Blanc where 150,000 spectator tickets have reportedly been sold for the sailing events.
"My Mum and Dad, my girlfriend and my family are there. I can barely make them out sometimes, because there's so many in a big crowd," said Dickson after coming ashore. "It's really nice to see everyone here supporting (us) and they're probably the loudest people on the pier, which is quite nice."
The conclusion of the Men's Skiff on Thursday is also the opening day of racing in both the Men's Dinghy featuring Finn Lynch (National Yacht Club) and Women's Dinghy where Eve McMahon (Howth Yacht Club) is making her Olympic debut.