Irish hopes for Paris 2024 Olympic Qualification were boosted last week with some strong performances at this month's Test Event in Marseille ahead of August's 2023 Allianz Sailing World Championships at The Hague.
The Dutch event from the 10th to the 20th of August represents the first of three opportunities to qualify for the Summer Olympic Regatta in Marseilles.
The regatta is a once-a-cycle event where the world championship titles for all ten Olympic classes are up for grabs at the same time.
Sailing for Ireland in The Hague are five Dublin sailors and two from Cork Harbour. Three of the seven are already Olympians from both Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
2022 World Youth Champion Eve McMahon from Howth Yacht Club sails in the ILCA 6, and her brother Ewan McMahon also from Howth and 2016 Olympian from Rio Finn Lynch (National Yacht Club), compete in the Men’s ILCA 7. Dublin reps from Tokyo, Robert Dickson (Howth Yacht Club) and Seán Waddilove (Skerries Sailing Club) and Cork duo Séafra Guilfoyle and Johnny Durcan (both Royal Cork Yacht Club) are all competing in the 49er Men's skiff event.
"A top 16 finish in each of the ILCA events will secure a Paris 2024 spot for Ireland"
The World Championships at the Hague will see 1,400 of the world’s best sailors compete across 10 Olympic and 4 Parasailing events. 107 Olympic places are up for grabs alongside the title of World Champion.
Only one boat from each country can compete in each event at the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
A top 16 finish in each of the ILCA events will secure a spot for Ireland at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, while in the 49ers, a top 10 finish is required.
If Ireland does secure Olympic qualification, the Irish sailors in that event will then battle it out for nomination to the Olympic Federation, based on the results of sailors at a pre-determined list of events as laid down in the selection process set down by Irish Sailing’s Olympic Steering Group, a procedure which was not without controversy for Tokyo 2020.
Should Ireland fail to qualify a boat at the World Championships in the Hague, two more opportunities await, but a qualification in The Hague represents the best possible preparation for Paris 2024 and the best indicator that Ireland is in the medal hunt. The remaining opportunities are 2024's class Continental Championships and a final qualification regatta just weeks before the Games.
Hopes are high that Ireland will qualify in all three events. Despite a bumpy start to the pre-Olympic year, there have been some strong finishes, most recently in last week’s Olympic Test Event in Marseille.
The eight-day regatta was the first of four test events run by Paris 2024 organisers to fine-tune their processes – and for the athletes, it was a dress rehearsal for the Games with only one entry per nation in each of the ten classes.
It was also a key performance indicator in the run-up to Paris 2024.
Lynch finished sixth in the ILCA 7 and has, it appears, put his long-standing arm injury behind him. In her first season competing as a Senior, McMahon finished 11th in ILCA 6, a result that included a win in race 8. Dickson and Waddilove placed 13th, just outside the top ten for the medal race final.
The World Sailing Championships begin in The Hague at the port of Scheveningen from 10th August 2023.