Irish Sailing senior athletes will contest three of the ten Olympic events at The Hague from this weekend in the first major Paris 2024 qualification, the Allianz Sailing World Championships off the coast of the Netherlands.
Normally contested at individual events, once in every Olympic quadrennial sees all ten events decide their world championship titles at a combined gathering.
Irish events begin today with the qualification rounds in the 49er world championship which forms the Olympic Men’s skiff event at the games.
Two crews will sail in this event featuring Tokyo 2020 veterans Robert Dickson of Howth with Seán Waddilove of Skerries along with the more recent pairing of Séafra Guilfoyle with Johnny Durcan, both representing the Royal Cork Yacht Club in Crosshaven.
The top ten nations at the end of the finals round next week will take the initial allocations of qualified countries for Paris 2024.
Sunday’s schedule will feature the first races for the two single-handed classes formerly known under the Laser name.
2021 World Silver medallist and Rio 2016 veteran Finn Lynch will compete in the ILCA7 championship along with Ewan McMahon.
Barely one year into her senior level campaign, Eve McMahon also has her sights set on securing a berth for Ireland in the ILCA6 women’s event, mirroring her role model Annalise Murphy’s career just over a decade ago.
Both single-handed events will each decide 16 nation places for the Olympics on this occasion.
Three of the senior squad competed at the recent test event at the Olympic regatta venue in Marseilles where the Irish Sailing Foundation and Sport Ireland have provided a training base for the past year.
Both Lynch and Eve McMahon delivered strong results which bode well for the forthcoming combined world championships while Dickson and Waddilove were close to the form they’ll need for the week ahead.
The whole squad are buoyed by the success last weekend at the 29er World Championship, the pathway class to the senior 49er fleet when Ireland’s Clementine and Nathan Van Steenberge won the title at Weymouth.
The result from the brother and sister pairing was the highlight for the eight strong Irish squad that competed with several distinctions at the London 2012 Olympic venue
“Lots of commitment and training have been the hallmark of our senior and pathway squads leading up to the summer season highlight events, we are excited to see how the efforts translate into performance,” commented James O’Callaghan, Irish Sailing’s Performance Director.
