McMahon Secures Historic World Sailing Medal in China
In a historic first for Irish sailing, Howth sailor Eve McMahon (Howth Yacht Club) has won the Bronze medal at the ILCA World Championships today during an epic final day in Qingdao (Shandong Province, China, Saturday 17th May 2025).
McMahon finished a remarkable series in third place in the women's ILCA 6 event behind Poland's Agata Barwinska in second while Louise Cervera of France took Gold. It is the first time an Irish female sailor has medalled at Senior World Championships and a huge achievement for the 21-year-old who already has two back-to-back Under 21 World Championships to her name.
The result marks a step-change for the Irish sailor who competed in her first Olympics last summer in Paris after just two years at senior level. Recent results have seen Eve record some good placings mixed with avoidable and costly errors, but that all changed this week.
In the six races sailed in China, McMahon recorded results within the top six places in the 99-boat event while also avoiding any penalties.
"We were struggling in the last few events but we've worked really hard to fix that before coming to China," commented Irish Sailing coach Vasilij Zbogar. "We spent time in Lymington training in (tidal) current with the British team and that really helped us fight for a medal - and get a medal.”
"It was a really difficult day, very strong winds but Eve made three solid races," said Zbogar who won silver for Slovenia at this venue in the 2009 Beijing Olympics. "She is sailing really well and we're looking forward to the days and months of competition ahead."
In the ILCA 7 men's event, Carlow's Finn Lynch (National Yacht Club) bounced back from a faltering start on Friday with three top six results including second place in the final race. Those results moved him back up the leaderboard to end 15th overall though a longer regatta would likely have seen him in a more familiar top ten result.
Team-mate Ewan McMahon (Howth YC) counted a ninth and a tenth in their 138-boat event to finish 19th overall and just four points behind Lynch. Like his sister, his regatta counts only top ten results reflecting a very close points difference at the top of the fleet.
"This is another truly historic moment for Irish Sailing. Eve is the first female sailor to win a senior world championship medal” commented James O'Callaghan, Irish Sailing's Performance Director. "Massive credit goes to Eve's determination and coach team of Vasilij Zbogar and Rory Fitzpatrick."
Meanwhile, on her first senior level world championship, Sienna Wright (Howth YC) ended in an impressive mid-fleet position though a ninth place in her opening race on Friday plus several top 20 results are indicators of her growing form.