Erin McIlwaine and Ellen Barbour join the Senior Irish Sailing Squad
Irish Sailing has confirmed the promotion of Erin McIlwaine and Ellen Barbour to the Senior Irish Sailing Squad. The pair have progressed through the Irish Sailing Development Squad in recent seasons, earning their place following a breakthrough Bronze medal at the 2025 U23 49erFX World Championships in Copenhagen. The result positions them firmly on the pathway towards qualification for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
McIlwaine and Barbour formed their 49erFX partnership in March 2024 and showed early promise with an 11th-place finish at Kieler Woche, now part of the Sailing Grand Slam Series. They continued to build consistency throughout the 2025 season, remaining inside the top ten for much of the U23 Worlds before securing third place on the final day in challenging conditions.
Their World Championship result also led to their selection for Sport Ireland’s International Carding Scheme, recognising them as athletes with elite or high-performance potential and providing access to funding and specialist support services.
The duo are part of a growing group of emerging Irish female skiff sailors, including Lucia Cullen (Royal St. George) and Alana Twomey (Royal Cork Yacht Club) as well as Lauren O’Callaghan (NYC) and Charlotte Eadie (Ballyholme YC) whose progress is central to Irish Sailing’s continued development of women’s high-performance skiff racing.
Irish Sailing’s Technical Director Rory Fitzpatrick said, “Erin and Ellen earned that World Championship medal. There is no doubt they put in the hard yards to achieve it, it’s clearly a stepping stone in their Olympic preparations and it’s their attitude and commitment to preparation that steps them up the senior team. This is a case of hard work meeting opportunity, and they also showed that they can execute when it counts. We have a special cohort of young sailors pushing hard and that momentum is beginning to show real results internationally such as with Ben O'Shaughnessy and Ethan Spain winning the U23 49er Europeans and having the tricolour raised on the podium once again this season.”
McIlwaine, from Kilkeel, sails with Newcastle Yacht Club and trains with the Royal St. George Yacht Club. Barbour, from Whitehead, represents County Antrim Yacht Club. Both are studying Physiotherapy at Trinity College Dublin while competing at international level.
They now join Olympians Finn Lynch, Eve McMahon, Robert Dickson and Seán Waddilove, together with ILCA sailor Ewan McMahon, as part of the Irish Sailing Senior Team.
Also showing huge promise are Ben O’Shaughnessy (Royal Cork YC) and Ethan Spain (National YC) who in November took home Gold in the U23 49er European
Championships. The pair are on the cusp of joining the Senior Team pending further performance markers being achieved over the winter training period.