Britain's Alison Young has written her name into the sailing history books, becoming the first British woman to win a World Championship title in a solo Olympic dinghy class. Annalise Murphy finished third in the silver fleet and Aoife Hopkins four places behind her. The end of the championship also marks the conclusion of the Irish Olympic trial that has been won by Annalise who now takes Ireland's sole Rio berth in the Radial class.
While Murphy finished ahead of Hopkins in each of the three regattas in the trials, Mexico saw the margin tighten to just four places in that event.
However, the overall selection trials score was comfortably in Murphy’s favour.
“Congratulations to Annalise for winning the trials that confirm her as the best Laser Radial sailor in Ireland,” said James O’Callaghan, ISA Performance Director. “Aoife also sailed a great contest and she is clearly a prospect for 2020.”
London Olympian Young, whose previous World Championship best was fourth in 2012, claimed an emphatic last race victory over USA's Paige Railey to seal Laser Radial World Championship glory in Vallarta, Mexico, on Wednesday and provide a huge boost to her Rio preparations with 107 days to go until the 2016 Opening Ceremony.
After a hard-fought regatta where the overall lead changed daily, it all came down to just a single point in the end. The 28-year-old Young held her nerve to take her third race win of the week in the 13th and final race of the regatta, relegating erstwhile leader Railey into the silver medal position by the narrowest of margins.
Shirley Robertson claimed 2000 Olympic gold in the Europe class, which was then the women's one-person Olympic dinghy, but a World Championship title in that event eluded her. The Laser Radial has since replaced the Europe on the Games programme, and Young becomes the first female British sailor to win a World Championship in an Olympic single-handed dinghy event. Penny Way won windsurfing World Championship gold in 1990.
Final top ten:
1. Alison Young, GBR, 42 points
2. Paige Railey, USA, 43
3. Anne-Marie Rindom, DEN, 50
4. Marit Bouwmeester, NED, 54
5. Gintare Volungeviciute Scheidt, LTU, 68
6. Erika Reineke, USA, 84
7. Lijia Xu , CHN, 90
8. Nazli Cagla Donertas, TUR, 98
9. Manami Doi, JPN, 101
10. Brenda Bowskill , CAN, 109
Full results: www.laserworlds2016.org