Displaying items by tag: Finn Lynch
Finn Lynch Eyes Laser World Title But Faces Wait for Wind for Final Barcelona Races
Ireland's Finn Lynch, lying second overall, is in hold mode in Barcelona this morning as the final day of the ILCA7/Laser World Championships is delayed due to lack of wind.
The Barcelona Sailing Centre Race Committee reports a maximum of three knots of wind from the north and northeast plus two-metre waves.
They are conditions that have been judged "Not Sailable" by the Race Committee, and currently, the fleet of 139 entries drawn from 44 countries is "waiting for better conditions".
Lynch is almost assured of Ireland's best ever Laser world Championship result, as Afloat reported earlier here but right now, with such a string of ultra-consistent scores already banked this week, the National Yacht Club ace has his eye on a much bigger prize.
Yesterday, in the trickiest of conditions, he chalked up a 7,2,1 in the first day of gold fleet racing to give himself the best possible tilt at the title.
Ireland's Finn Lynch Lying Second Overall at Laser/ILCA 7 Worlds in Spain
After three gold fleet races at the Laser Worlds/ILCA 7 Championships in Barcelona, Ireland's Finn Lynch has moved up to second overall.
With one day of competition (Wednesday) to decide the overall honours, the National Yacht Club ace is 14 points off the lead in a fleet of 139 entries drawn from 44 countries.
At lunchtime today, the fleet was signalled with 'AP over H' on the water and 'AP' displayed ashore for the Silver fleet bringing Tuesday racing to a conclusion.
The on-form Rio Olympian signalled his intentions of making good on his campaign for Paris 2024 after missing out on Tokyo with a seventh at the European Championships just a month ago.
He has sailed a consistent series so far this week in the trickiest of conditions, chalking up a 7,2,1 in the first day of gold fleet racing today.
Lynch was placed eighth overall after a long day on the water on Monday but leapfrogged some of the world's top sailors at the start of the 70-boat gold fleet racing with a magnificent race win for Ireland in the last race today.
The New Zealand overall leader Thomas Saunders finished one place ahead of Lynch at the Bulgarian-hosted Euros in October and previously made the Laser Worlds top ten in 2017 and 2019.
Some places 28 points adrift of Lynch is the Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Tonci Stipanovic, an indication of the level of competition at the Barcelona Sailing Centre this week.
The prospect of Lynch posting a top result was discussed on Afloat in its World Championships preview here.
Meanwhile, there were mixed results for the other Irish boats in action on the penultimate day of racing in Barcelona.
Howth YC's Ewan McMahon moved up to 25th overall in the Gold fleet thanks to a 12th place in the second race of the day.
It was a similar story for Under 21 sailor Tom Higgins of the Royal St. George YC who had a 15th place on his first day of racing in the Gold fleet where he lies 47th overall.
Jamie McMahon (Howth YC), younger brother of Ewan had a seventh-place on Tuesday in the Silver fleet where he lies 14th overall.
Solid Sailing Sees Finn Lynch Lying Eighth at Laser Worlds in Barcelona
Consistent sailing in one of the world's toughest dinghy fleets by the National Yacht Club's Finn Lynch sees the solo ace lying eighth overall at the Laser Standard ILCA7 (Laser Standard) World Championships in Spain with two days of finals racing to go.
It's a top performance for the Rio Olympian on Mediterranean waters that also sees two of his three teammates competing in the gold fleet of the championships.
There are 139 entries from 44 countries competing for the coveted world title.
Lynch delivered a solid day's performance on Monday, counting eighth and tenth places to lie eighth overall as well as a 16th place that he discarded.
Light and tricky winds continued to affect the championship, with two races sailed early on Monday in a dying breeze before the 135-boat fleet was sent ashore.
A sea breeze formed in the afternoon that permitted one more race.
At the end of the qualification round, three out of four Irish sailors have reached the Gold fleet for the event, with up to six races planned to decide the championship by Wednesday afternoon.
Stronger winds are also forecast, so a full wind range for the series will produce a worthy champion. So far the early running is bing made by GBR's Elliot Hanson.
Ewan McMahon & Tom Higgins in Gold fleet
Currently 31st overall, Howth YC's Ewan McMahon secured his Gold fleet place, and a top 20 overall place is still within reach.
Meanwhile, Under 21 sailor Tom Higgins of the Royal St. George YC cut the top 70 boats for the finals phase when he picked up four places to finish the qualification round in 45th place.
Higgins showed great form in two attempted races on Monday, but these had to be abandoned due to the fading wind. However, he did secure a sixth place today (Monday), which resulted in his qualification for the finals.
Jamie McMahon (Howth YC), younger brother of Ewan and Ireland's second Under 21 sailor at the event, is in 83rd place overall.
The series will intensify as the best sailors from both qualification flights come together to decide the title.
Three races are scheduled on Tuesday for both Gold and Silver fleet as the regatta runs a day behind schedule.
Results here
The National Yacht Club's Finn Lynch is lying fifth overall after a flying light air start to his ILCA7 Laser world championships campaign in Barcelona, Spain on Saturday.
The Rio 2016 Olympian placed third and sixth in the two qualification rounds to determine next week's gold fleet final.
After a delayed start due to light winds, the 135-boat event finally got two races completed on Saturday with two Irish sailors featuring amongst the fleet leaders.
The Carlow sailor had a poor start to the second race and recovered ground for his top ten finishing-place.
Howth Yacht Club's Ewan McMahon had a tenth in the opening race and led the second race before finding himself on the wrong side of a wind-shift and placed 12th to lie 19th overall for the day.
Ireland has two other sailors competing at the Under 21 level. Tom Higgins of the Royal St. George YC lies 49th overall after a 13th and 41st place in the Yellow fleet, while Jamie McMahon (Howth YC), younger brother of Ewan, is in 72nd after scoring 50th and 30th in the same flight.
Conditions for the racing were challenging in two-metre waves and northerly wind speeds, sometimes over 10 knots but also as light as three to five.
Racing had been scheduled to start on Friday, but light winds forced the organisers to postpone to an early start on Saturday, with three races scheduled.
However, the light winds persisted, and while one race was completed, the fleet was brought ashore before lunch to await an improvement. The weather duly obliged with fresh conditions and a giant sea swell to permit a second race later in the day.
Racing continues on Sunday. The intention is to sail three races back-to-back for both yellow and blue fleets.
Results are here
Can Finn Lynch Produce Ireland's First Ever Top 30 Olympic Laser World Championship Result?
Since the Laser/ILCA 7 dinghy made its Olympic debut 25 years ago, Ireland has sought a top 30 result at the annual World Championships.
There's the prospect of such a result at the Barcelona-hosted championship next week thanks to the current form of Irish Laser ace Finn Lynch, part of a new team bidding for Paris 2024.
Lynch, of the National Yacht Club, will be aiming to build on last month's seventh overall score at the European Championships in Bulgaria.
It's the first Worlds in this Olympic triennial. Hence, while the competition may arguably not be as red hot as the Olympic year itself, a Laser Worlds contest is never lukewarm. There are 139 entries from 44 countries.
The ILCA 7 fleet always boasts a stellar lineup from across the globe. The Brits will be looking to build on their recent European Championships success and translate that on to the world stage coming up against a host of world and Olympic champions like Cypriot Pavlos Kontides and Germany’s Philip Buhl. The class has the strength and depth to put together a very strong start list for this event, and with mandatory chartered boats, the racing will be just as strong.
As the number one Irish contender, Lynch is attempting to rebuild after his disappointment of failing to qualify for Tokyo 2020, so it's important he's on the right tack at the first opportunity.
World Championship results can be highly dependent on the stage of the four-year (or three for Paris) Olympic cycle. The standard builds typically from the Olympic Games and then peaks in the next pre-Olympic year (or maybe in the Olympic year itself if places are still up for grabs).
Keep improving
Ireland's 1996 Laser representative, Mark Lyttle, a race winner in Atlanta when the Laser made its Olympic debut, says a typical campaign strategy is to 'bang a result early in the cycle and then keep improving your performance to keep results at the same level as the overall standard [of the fleet] improves. If you start behind the cycle, you have to improve quicker than the fleet during cycle".
So, as Paris hoves into view, successful campaigns are already well up and running.
The Irish competition for the single place on the Marseille start line is already taking shape, and there have been changes since Tokyo in the Irish camp.
Howth's Ewan McMahon continues as Lynch's main rival but absent from the Barcelona starting lineup is long-time running mate, Ballyholme's Liam Glynn.
The former Topper World Champion is replaced by two relative greenhorns, McMahon's younger brother Jamie, who sampled his first senior competition in the silver fleet in Bulgaria a month ago, and Royal St George's Tom Higgins.
Mediterranean sailing
Typically, as air temperatures dip and the water stays warm lighter winds tend to prevail in the Mediterranean city at this time of year. Experts predicted winds in the 7 to 12 knots range for Friday, but other weather models are now looking windier.
The lighter stuff would help Higgins, who is proving quick in sub ten knots; for example, the Dun Laoghaire Harbour helmsman won a race at the Radial Europeans in Poland in 2020.
Two races per day are scheduled from Friday at the Barcelona International Sailing Centre until Monday 8 November, when the fleet splits into Gold and Silver. The final series then continues until Wednesday, 10 November.
Make the cut
Coach Vasilij Žbogar, who was ushered in in 2018 with great fanfare to boost Irish Tokyo medal chances (only for Ireland not to qualify), is coaching again with the hope that Ireland can make the cut, at least, this time.
It might not be too popular to air it in some quarters, but despite 25 years of trying, Ireland has never finished in the top 30 of the World Championships. You have to go right back to the 'eighties to find any higher Irish results. In 1983 Lyttle finished 19th and Bill O'Hara 13th, a record, albeit achieved in pre-Olympic times, that stands to this day.
Lynch's own best Worlds performance is 31, scored in Melbourne in 2020 a position he also got in Aarhus, Denmark in 2018. 31st is also a result also achieved by his predecessor James Espey in Oman in 2013.
Lynch's Euros seventh in Bulgaria last month indicates the Carlow man is on a mission, so could Barcelona 2021 be a breakthrough for Irish Laser interests?
Seventh Overall (& a Personal Best) for Finn Lynch at Laser Europeans
The National Yacht Club's Finn Lynch got his Laser/ILCA 7 campaign for Paris 2024 off to a flying start in Bulgaria this week by taking seventh overall – a personal best – at the European Championships in Varna today.
Lynch's rivals for the single Irish Olympic spot in three years time were also competing. Ewan McMahon of Howth finished in 21st and Liam Glynn of Ballyholme in 44th.
Lynch's result eclipses his owner personal best performance at a Euros. That, as Afloat reported here, is the 13th scored in Poland last year.
Jamie McMahon finished in 17th place in the Men's Silver Fleet.
It was the third Gold medal in a row for the British team at the Senior Europeans, with Michael Beckett GBR becoming the new 2021 champion. It’s the third medal for him at the Senior Europeans after winning Silver in 2018 in La Rochelle and also Silver the last year in Gdansk, where the Brits conquered the podium.
Silver this time was for Croatian Filip Jurisic CRO, winning a Senior European medal for the first time.
Jonatan Vadnai HUN completed the podium, taking the Bronze medal also the first one for him at the Senior Europeans.
Just 1.8 points far from the podium was Russian Maxim Nikolaev RUS on fourth. 2018 Senior European champion Pavlos Kontides CYP was fifth.
Lorenzo Chiavarini GBR, Lynch IRL, Duko Bos, Wannes Van Laer BEL and William De Smet BEL completed the 2021 EurILCA Senior Europeans Top 10.
Results are here
Finn Lynch Lying Five Points off Top Ten at Laser European Championships in Bulgaria
After missing out on Tokyo 2020, Ireland's three male Laser campaigners from that quadrennial are back on the water for the Paris 2024 Olympics at the Laser (ILCA 7) European Championships & Open European Trophy 2021 at Varna, Bulgaria this week.
A white-out and another six-hour day on the Black Sea meant race officials were only able to squeeze in one race each for the Laser and Radial classes yesterday.
After six races sailed in the gold fleet and one discard, Lynch, a veteran of Rio 2016, is lying 14th. The National Yacht Club sailor is five points off the top ten (download results sheet below).
If the Carlow native can maintain current form he's in with a chance of a top ten finish and eclipsing his owner personal best performance at a Euros. That, as Afloat reported here, is the 13th scored in Poland last year.
The fleet spent hours out on the water in rain-driven shifts, but after that lone race, the race committee were forced to abandon the day after one last strong squall passed through the course.
Howth's Ewan McMahon is 39th and Finn Lynch is 42nd in the 58-boat fleet. The trio are joined this week by Ewan's brother Jamie. This is his first senior event in a Standard rig and he is racing in the Silver fleet.
The contracted coach to the Irish sailors, Vasilji Zbogar said on social media "Finn has had a solid qualifying series. Ewan hasn’t performed as well as expected but has plenty of time to turn this around in the finals and move his ranking up overall, and Liam is improving race by race”.
Two more days of racing remain. As only six races have been completed for the Laser men and seven for the Radial fleet the race committee will be under pressure to fire off the three races scheduled today.
Eve McMahon 15th
In the 66-boat Women's Radial division, Eve McMahon is 15th (moving up from 22nd) and Aoife Hopkins is 27th. Both are from Howth Yacht Club.
Ireland can only look to the future and Paris 2024 - just three years away - for its next chance to compete in the men's singlehanded Laser class following Finn Lynch's failure to qualify Ireland in the Laser event for Tokyo 2020 this week at the Vilamoura International Championships.
Spain and The Netherlands won the two Olympic nation places for Tokyo, with Ireland finishing ninth in the country qualification stakes.
Lynch completed the event in 33rd place overall following a 14th and 42nd places for the day.
Germany’s Philipp Buhl as reigning world champion delivered a thrilling finish to the series, beating Brazil’s five-times Olympic medallist Robert Scheidt by a single point in the final race.
Ewan McMahon from Howth YC improved to 48th overall with a 23rd and 55th for the day. Liam McGlynn of Ballyholme YC also picked up places to 56th in the 70-boat Gold fleet.
In the Men’s event Silver fleet, newcomers to Senior level racing Tom Higgins and Hugo Kennedy, both of the Royal St. George YC in Dun Laoghaire placed 46th and 62nd respectively.
Full results here
Irish hopes of a Tokyo Olympic place in the men's single-handed class all but disappeared today in light and shifty breeze off Vilamoura, Portugal at the European Olympic qualifier event.
With the 139 competitors now split into gold and silver fleets, Ireland's Finn Lynch (NYC) really needed a good day to make a move up the rankings of those countries not yet Tokyo qualified. Not to be, however, as a 20th and 27th moved him further down those rankings to ninth. (34th overall)
With only four races left to sail, it is hard to see how he could make up the 48 point deficit that separates him from the 2nd ranked dutch boat.
Other Irish results today:
- Ewan McMahon (HYC) 66, 50 to lie 50th overall
- Liam Glynn (Ballyholme YC) 57, 32 - 59th overall
Silver fleet:
- Tom Higgins (RSGYC) 22, 25 - 100th overall
- Hugo Kennedy (RSGYC) BFD, 38 - 128th overall.
Robert Scheidt's (BRA) challenge faded after a black flag in the 2nd race - he now lies in 5th place, some 25 points behind Britain's Michael Beckett who leads the regatta.
ILCA 7 Country Olympic Qualification Table after eight races sailed
Country | Points Day 2 | Pos after day 2 | Pts Day 3 | Pos after day 3 | Pts Day 4 | Pos after Day 4 | |
ESP | 21 | 4 | 27 | 1 | 47 | 1 | |
NED | 16 | 1 | 39 | 2 | 75 | 2 | |
BEL | 18 | 2 | 56 | 4 | 81 | 3 | |
SUI | 27 | 5 | 44 | 3 | 100 | 4 | |
MNE | 40 | 8 | 63 | 6 | 100 | 5 | |
ITA | 18 | 3 | 56 | 5 | 107 | 6 | |
GRE | 39 | 7 | 81 | 9 | 111 | 7 | |
POR | 43 | 9 | 73 | 7 | 115 | 8 | |
IRL | 38 | 6 | 76 | 8 | 123 | 9 | |
POL | 51 | 10 | 112 | 10 | 195 | 10 | |
TUR | 60 | 11 | 114 | 11 | 196 | 11 | |
ISR | 112 | 14 | 198 | 15 | 208 | 12 | |
LTU | 95 | 13 | 181 | 13 | 223 | 13 | |
CZE | 126 | 16 | 185 | 14 | 232 | 14 | |
DEN | 93 | 12 | 148 | 12 | 240 | 15 | |
UKR | 115 | 15 | 210 | 16 | 329 | 16 |
Racing continues tomorrow. Full results here
Hopes of Tokyo Olympic Slot Fading for Finn Lynch at Halfway Stage of Vilamoura ILCA Regatta
Irish hopes of landing one of the Olympic country spots at the 2021 ILCA Vilamoura European Continental qualifier for the Olympic single-handed dinghy men faded considerably following disappointing results on day three of the competition.
Sailed in 18 to 20 knot south-westerlies the best Irish result of the day's two races was a 14th by leading contender Finn Lynch (NYC) but he followed that up with a 23rd to drop him back to 34th overall and 8th of those countries still seeking Olympic qualification. Next best of the Irish, Ewan McMahon (HYC) is 45th (24,18), while Liam Glynn of Ballyholme is 60th following a 33rd and 43rd. Royal St George teammates Tom Higgins (45, 55) and Hugo Kennedy (59, 60) now lie in 106th and 123rd respectively.
With only two country places available, the Irish challenge has a mountain to climb to catch up with second-placed the Netherlands, some 37 points ahead. However, there has been some movement amongst the leading nations with Spain moving up three places to take over the top spot. Six races are scheduled over the next three days.
See Finn Lynch in action on the event video below, scrub to 2.49 on the timeline
See Afloat's country qualification table below for the latest positions
Laser and Star legend Robert Scheidt (BRA) is still challenging strongly in third place overall, just one point behind Croatia's Filip Jurisic and Michael Beckett (GBR)
ILCA Laser Men Country Qualification Table after Day 3
Country | Points Day 2 | Pos after day 2 | Pts Day 3 | Pos after day 3 |
ESP | 21 | 4 | 27 | 1 |
NED | 16 | 1 | 39 | 2 |
SUI | 27 | 5 | 44 | 3 |
BEL | 18 | 2 | 56 | 4 |
ITA | 18 | 3 | 56 | 5 |
MNE | 40 | 8 | 63 | 6 |
POR | 43 | 9 | 73 | 7 |
IRL | 38 | 6 | 76 | 8 |
GRE | 39 | 7 | 81 | 9 |
POL | 51 | 10 | 112 | 10 |
TUR | 60 | 11 | 114 | 11 |
DEN | 93 | 12 | 148 | 12 |
LTU | 95 | 13 | 181 | 13 |
CZE | 126 | 16 | 185 | 14 |
ISR | 112 | 14 | 198 | 15 |
UKR | 115 | 15 | 210 | 16 |
Racing continues tomorrow. Full results here