Annalise in Pole Position for Today's Medal Races

2nd February 2013

#roadtorio – Annalise Murphy stormed back to regain the overall lead at Miami Olympic Classes regatta yesterday and goes in to today's medal races as top sailor after a week long battle of 13 races in her 29-boat Laser Radial fleet.

Sparkling conditions on Biscayne Bay and 20-knot winds gave Ireland's 'Breeze Queen' the perfect opportunity to strike home her heavy air advantage.

In what has been descirbed as the stand out performance of all the 400 competing sailors yesterday Annalise won the final two races to take a four point lead over Paige Railey of the United States. Railey won race 13 today and is in second place so still poses a mjro risk in today's medal race.

Murphy is racing for Ireland's first ever World Cup win in the Laser Radial class, a feat that would be a terrific boost to on her first regatta on the road to Rio 2016.

The Lasers and Laser Radials are testing an experimental format this week in Miami. Sailors receive zero points for each race they win. Their first fleet series standings through six races translated into a single carryover race score applied to the new series which started Thursday. The new series included one discard which could be the carryover race. Following the next five races and six total scores, the top ten advance to the medal races on Saturday. The top ten will sail three medal races on Saturday. Each medal race is double points and non-discardable. Final score is the six race series which began yesterday plus the medal race scores.

The first ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami medalists of 2013 were determined on day five. Men’s and Women’s RS:X events conducted semifinal and final round races. The 2.4 mR and Sonar fleets of the Paralympic events took part in their final day of fleet racing.

Israel’s Maayan Davidovich and Spain’s Ivan Pastor saved their best for last in the Women’s and Men’s RS:X events. Davidovich had one win prior to the finals and Pastor had none. They each won their dramatic, winner take all final race to capture gold.

Pastor, a two-time Olympian in 2012 and 2008, was ecstatic about his first ISAF Sailing World Cup title. “It feels incredible to win one of these great World Cup events,” he said. “The conditions were ideal for me with the strong wind. It was more stable and I maneuvered well to get in position.”

The 2012 Olympic silver medalist and defending ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami Champion Nick Dempsey (GBR) finished second to gain silver medal honors. The 2012 Olympic gold medalist and three-time champion of this event finished with the bronze medal. He won five out of 10 races this week.

Davidovich was equally excited about her first World Cup gold medal. “I’m happy to share the podium with Tuuli (Petaja-Siren) and Blanca (Manchon),” said Maayan. “I wasn’t the fastest on the water, but I had a good regatta. This is my first important race for the Rio campaign, so it’s good to start off on the right foot. I love Miami and I’m looking forward to racing here again.”

Finland’s Tuuli Petaja-Siren, the 2012 Olympic silver medalist, won another silver medal with her second place finish. She won four of the 10 races this week. Blanca Manchon, a former World Champion, was third for the bronze medal.

After a recommendation from the Olympic Classes Sub-committee at the 2012 ISAF Annual Conference, Olympic classes have recommended formats to ISAF for testing. The RS:X Class Association’s proposed format has been trialed throughout the week in Miami. The RS:X World Championships take place February 28 to March 7 in Buzios, Brazil.

Great Britain’s Megan Pascoe won her first two races of the week today to seal the win in the 2.4 mR event. Pascoe did not post a finish worse than second following race four out of 10. She tallied six second place finishes. Pascoe won by three points over Canadian Allan Leibel, who was second in both races today. Leibel took the silver medal, while Bruce Millar (CAN) secured the bronze.

Pascoe was fourth last year in Miami and third in the 2.4 mR World Championships last September. The 2013 International 2.4 mR Open World Championship takes place take place September 6-14 in Britain.

Aleksander Wang-Hansen, Marie Solberg and Per Eugen Kristiansen of Norway won the gold medal in the Sonar event and finished strong today with a win in race 10. They were second in race nine. Wang-Hansen and his crew won by a nine point margin. The 2012 Olympic bronze medalists won four races this week. Two American teams secured silver and bronze medals. Andrew Fisher, Mike Hersey and Ryan Levinson took the silver, while Rick Doerr, Brad Kendell and Hugh Freund won bronze.

“We’ve been working hard together for years now and it’s paying off,” said Wang-Hansen. “We have a long way to go, but it’s full speed ahead for Rio.”

49ers Ryan Pesch and Trevor Burd (USA) gained ground on leaders Fred Strammer and Zach Brown (USA). Pesch and Burd tallied impressive scores today by finishing second, first and fourth to pull within two points of the leaders. Strammer and Brown were fourth, second and fifth.

Brazil’s Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze kept their five point lead today in the 49er FX. They were victorious in race 13 and second in race 14. American’s Anna Tunnicliffe and Molly Vandemoer are in second place.

The top six teams in the 49er and 49er FX events will advance to Saturday’s respective medal races. The medal races will be conducted using a unique format and challenging course. The theater style course includes two enclosed parallel lanes approximately 400 meters long and 220 meters wide. The target time for race duration is 10 minutes, with the goal of three laps. The first boat to win two races wins the regatta. Teams entering the medal races with the lead from the fleet series will begin this stage with a win.

Charlie Buckingham surged to the top of the Laser leaderboard this afternoon. He won race 13, which counts as zero points (bonus point for race wins), was second in race 14, and 17th (discard) in the final race of the day.

Perhaps no sailor had a stronger performance today than Ireland’s Annalise Murphy of the Laser Radial event. She won the final two races to take a four point lead over Paige Railey of the United States. Railey won race 13 today and is in second place.

The Lasers and Laser Radials will feature a creative medal round series on Saturday. The top ten will sail three medal races. Each medal race is double points and non-discardable. The final score is the six race series which began Thursday, plus the medal race scores. For more information on this format, read the explanation at the end of this recap.

Caleb Paine (USA) will have a 10 point lead going into Saturday’s medal race. The Finn U.S. National Champion was fourth and second today. Canadian Greg Douglas moved into second place by finishing third twice. The World #1 and ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne Champion Brendan Casey (AUS) won both races today, but a 29 (DNE – disqualification not excludable) on Thursday set him back going into today. He ended the day in sixth place.

Sarah Newberry and John Casey (USA) have a strong hold on the number one spot in the Nacra 17 event. Newberry and Casey finished first and second today and led by 11 points over Sarah Streater and Matthew Whitehead (USA). They were also first and second today.

In the Men’s 470, Matthias Schmid and Floran Reichstaedter (AUS) gained ground with a pair of wins, yet trail by seven points. Stuart McNay and David Hughes of the U.S. scored second and third place results and will be the top team heading into the medal race on Saturday. Xiaoli Wang and Xufeng Huang (CHN) won both Women’s 470 races to pull within nine points of leaders Fernanda Oliveira and Ana Luiza Barbachan (BRA). Both 470 fleets raced together on Friday.

The Schedule of Races for Saturday, February 2:
Course Alpha:
1000 – Nacra 17 Medal Race
1045 – Finn Medal Race
1145 – 49er Medal Stage (up to 6 races)
1245 – 49er FX Medal Stage (up to 6 races)

Course Bravo:
1000 – 470 Men's Medal Race
1045 – 470 Women's Medal Race
1130 – Laser Medal Stage (3 races)
1400 – Laser Radial Medal Stage (3 races)

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Olympic

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Irish Olympic Sailing FAQs

How long has Ireland been sailing at the Olympics?

Ireland’s representation in sailing at the Olympics dates back to 1948, when a team consisting of Jimmy Mooney (Firefly), Alf Delany and Hugh Allen (Swallow) competed in that year’s Summer Games in London (sailing off Torquay). Except for the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, Ireland has sent at least one sailor to every Summer Games since then.

Who has sailed for Ireland at the Olympics, and when?

How many Olympic medals has Ireland won in sailing?

Ireland has won two Olympics medals in sailing events, both silver: David Wilkins, Jamie Wilkinson in the Flying Dutchman at Moscow 1980, and Annalise Murphy in the Laser Radial at Rio 2016.

Who is on the current Irish Sailing Olympic team?

The current team, as of December 2020, consists of Laser sailors Finn Lynch, Liam Glynn and Ewan McMahon, 49er pairs Ryan Seaton and Seafra Guilfoyle, and Sean Waddilove and Robert Dickson, as well as Laser Radial sailors Annalise Murphy and Aoife Hopkins.

What is the National Governing Body for sailing in Ireland?

Irish Sailing is the National Governing Body for sailing in Ireland.

Who is responsible for selecting Ireland’s Olympic sailors?

Irish Sailing’s Performance division is responsible for selecting and nurturing Olympic contenders as part of its Performance Pathway.

What is the Performance Pathway?

The Performance Pathway is Irish Sailing’s Olympic talent pipeline. The Performance Pathway counts over 70 sailors from 11 years up in its programme.The Performance Pathway is made up of Junior, Youth, Academy, Development and Olympic squads. It provides young, talented and ambitious Irish sailors with opportunities to move up through the ranks from an early age. With up to 100 young athletes training with the Irish Sailing Performance Pathway, every aspect of their performance is planned and closely monitored while strong relationships are simultaneously built with the sailors and their families

Who is the Irish Sailing Performance head coach?

Rory Fitzpatrick is the head coach of Irish Sailing Performance. He is a graduate of University College Dublin and was an Athens 2004 Olympian in the Laser class.

Who is Irish Sailing’s Performance Director?

The Performance Director of Irish Sailing is James O’Callaghan. Since 2006 James has been responsible for the development and delivery of athlete-focused, coach-led, performance-measured programmes across the Irish Sailing Performance Pathway. A Business & Economics graduate of Trinity College Dublin, he is a Level 3 Qualified Coach and Level 2 Coach Tutor. He has coached at five Olympic Games and numerous European and World Championship events across multiple Olympic classes. He is also a member of the Irish Sailing Foundation board.

Who is the most famous Irish Olympic sailor?

Annalise Murphy is by far and away the biggest Irish sailing star. Her fourth in London 2012 when she came so agonisingly close to a bronze medal followed by her superb silver medal performance four years later at Rio won the hearts of Ireland. Murphy is aiming to go one better in Tokyo 2021.

Who are the Irish Sailing Performance coaching staff?

Under head coach Rory Fitzpatrick, the coaching staff consists of Laser Radial Academy coach Sean Evans, Olympic Laser coach Vasilij Zbogar and 49er team coach Matt McGovern.

How is performance sailing in Ireland funded?

The Irish Government provides funding to Irish Sailing. These funds are exclusively for the benefit of the Performance Pathway. However, this falls short of the amount required to fund the Performance Pathway in order to allow Ireland compete at the highest level. As a result the Performance Pathway programme currently receives around €850,000 per annum from Sport Ireland and €150,000 from sponsorship. A further €2 million per annum is needed to have a major impact at the highest level. The Irish Sailing Foundation was established to bridge the financial gap through securing philanthropic donations, corporate giving and sponsorship.

What is the Irish Sailing Foundation?

The vision of the Irish Sailing Foundation is to generate the required financial resources for Ireland to scale-up and execute its world-class sailing programme. Irish Sailing works tirelessly to promote sailing in Ireland and abroad and has been successful in securing funding of 1 million euro from Sport Ireland. However, to compete on a par with other nations, a further €2 million is required annually to realise the ambitions of our talented sailors. For this reason, the Irish Sailing Foundation was formed to seek philanthropic donations. Led by a Board of Directors and Head of Development Kathryn Grace, the foundation lads a campaign to bridge the financial gap to provide the Performance Pathway with the funds necessary to increase coaching hours, upgrade equipment and provide world class sport science support to a greater number of high-potential Irish sailors.

How are the funds raised for the Performance Pathway spent?

The Senior and Academy teams of the Performance Pathway are supported with the provision of a coach, vehicle, coach boat and boats. Even with this level of subsidy there is still a large financial burden on individual families due to travel costs, entry fees and accommodation. There are often compromises made on the amount of days a coach can be hired for and on many occasions it is necessary to opt out of major competitions outside Europe due to cost. Money raised by the Irish Sailing Foundation will go towards increased quality coaching time, world-class equipment, and subsiding entry fees and travel-related costs. It also goes towards broadening the base of talented sailors that can consider campaigning by removing financial hurdles, and the Performance HQ in Dublin to increase efficiency and reduce logistical issues.

What is the organisation structure of the Performance Pathway?

The ethos of the Performance Pathway is progression. At each stage international performance benchmarks are utilised to ensure the sailors are meeting expectations set. The size of a sailor will generally dictate which boat they sail. The classes selected on the pathway have been identified as the best feeder classes for progression. Currently the Irish Sailing Performance Pathway consists of the following groups: * Pathway (U15) Optimist and Topper * Youth Academy (U19) Laser 4.7, Laser Radial and 420 * Development Academy (U23) Laser, Laser Radial, 49er, 49erFX * Team IRL (direct-funded athletes) Laser, Laser Radial, 49er, 49erFX

What is the governance structure for performance sailing?

The Irish Sailing performance director produces a detailed annual budget for the programme which is presented to Sport Ireland, Irish Sailing and the Foundation for detailed discussion and analysis of the programme, where each item of expenditure is reviewed and approved. Each year, the performance director drafts a Performance Plan and Budget designed to meet the objectives of Irish Performance Sailing based on an annual review of the Pathway Programmes from Junior to Olympic level. The plan is then presented to the Olympic Steering Group (OSG) where it is independently assessed and the budget is agreed. The OSG closely monitors the delivery of the plan ensuring it meets the agreed strategy, is within budget and in line with operational plans. The performance director communicates on an ongoing basis with the OSG throughout the year, reporting formally on a quarterly basis.

What is the Olympic Steering Group?

Due to the specialised nature of Performance Sport, Irish Sailing established an expert sub-committee which is referred to as the Olympic Steering Group (OSG). The OSG is chaired by Patrick Coveney and its objective is centred around winning Olympic medals so it oversees the delivery of the Irish Sailing’s Performance plan.

How is progress monitored on the Performance Pathway? Who decides when sailors are selected or dropped?

At Junior level (U15) sailors learn not only to be a sailor but also an athlete. They develop the discipline required to keep a training log while undertaking fitness programmes, attending coaching sessions and travelling to competitions. During the winter Regional Squads take place and then in spring the National Squads are selected for Summer Competitions. As sailors move into Youth level (U19) there is an exhaustive selection matrix used when considering a sailor for entry into the Performance Academy. Completion of club training programmes, attendance at the performance seminars, physical suitability and also progress at Junior and Youth competitions are assessed and reviewed. Once invited in to the Performance Academy, sailors are given a six-month trial before a final decision is made on their selection. Sailors in the Academy are very closely monitored and engage in a very well planned out sailing, training and competition programme. There are also defined international benchmarks which these sailors are required to meet by a certain age. Biannual reviews are conducted transparently with the sailors so they know exactly where they are performing well and they are made aware of where they may need to improve before the next review.