Displaying items by tag: Finn Lynch
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
Challenging Day Two for Irish Laser Men at ILCA Vilamoura European Continental Qualifier
Day two of the 2021 ILCA Vilamoura European Continental qualifier for the Olympic single-handed dinghy men was sailed in 12 to 15-knot south-westerlies and proved to be somewhat challenging for the Irish contingent. Leading contender Finn Lynch (NYC) was a premature starter in race 1 but recovered to record a 6th in race 2 to lie 28th overall with the drop race excluded.
Ewan McMahon (HYC) improved slightly to 48th place after race scores of 29 and 12. Liam Glynn of Ballyholme is four places back in 52nd, but it was a tough day for Royal St George teammates Tom Higgins (45, 62) and Hugo Kennedy (47, 65) who now lie in 105th and 124th respectively.
In the all-important battle for country selection for Tokyo 2020 (final two places are available), Ireland remains in 7th place, with a slightly increased deficit on points relative to second place non-qualified country.
If the organisers continue the trend of alternating the start times, the men, who started first today, will likely enjoy stronger breezes later in the afternoon tomorrow.
Wednesday marks the halfway stage of the regatta and Ireland now has little room for error in the remaining eight races to come.
The country qualification position after day two is expressed in the table below where lower points are better.
Country | Points |
ESP | 16 |
BEL | 18 |
NED | 18 |
ITA | 21 |
SUI | 27 |
POR | 38 |
IRL | 39 |
GRE | 40 |
MNE | 43 |
POL | 51 |
TUR | 60 |
LTU | 93 |
DEN | 95 |
UKR | 112 |
CZE | 115 |
ISR | 126 |
Full results are here
After a long period without major regattas due to the pandemic situation, many of the top sailors, even from qualified countries, are competing at this event.
Organised by Vilamoura Sailing, this qualifier event is held for European countries to claim their remaining four slots for the Tokyo Olympic Games: two in the women's ILCA 6 fleet and two in the men's ILCA 7 fleet. There are seven countries competing for the two ILCA 6 Olympic tickets, and 17 countries vying for the two ILCA 7 slots.
150 sailors from 34 countries were able to come together for this event, as Vilamoura continues to be one of the few places in the world right now where sailing competitions are open.
Brazil's Robert Scheidt Leads European ILCA Olympic Qualifier, Ireland's Finn Lynch is 27th
At the age of 48 and with five Olympic medals and nine Laser World Championship titles, Brazil's Robert Scheidt leads the European Olympic Qualifier for the men's single-handed dinghy being competed for in Vilamoura, Portugal. Schiedt scored seconds in both of today's races to lead by a point.
Finn Lynch (NYC) leads the Irish contingent with a 28th and 5th to lie 27th overall, while Ewan McMahon (HYC) is in 50th place after race scores of 28 and 25. Liam Glynn of Ballyholme is a further seven places back (11th, 49th) while Tom Higgins (RSGYC) is 100th (49, 47) and his clubmate Hugo Kennedy is in 124th after two 59s.
ILCA 7 Country Olympic Qualification Position
In the all-important battle for country selection, where the top two of those not yet qualified will book tickets to Tokyo, the situation after day one is best expressed by the table below where lower points are better.
So five countries between Ireland and that all-important second place but it's early days and there are plenty of races left to sail till Saturday.
Country | Points |
---|---|
ESP | 14 |
BEL | 15 |
SUI | 17 |
NED | 21 |
POR | 26 |
GRE | 29 |
IRL | 33 |
ITA | 36 |
TUR | 37 |
MNE | 39 |
POL | 43 |
UKR | 73 |
DEN | 74 |
ISR | 77 |
LTU | 84 |
CZE | 84 |
Full results are here
After a long period without major regattas due to the pandemic situation, many of the top sailors, even from qualified countries, are competing at this event.
Organised by Vilamoura Sailing, this qualifier event is held for European countries to claim their remaining four slots for the Tokyo Olympic Games: two in the women's ILCA 6 fleet and two in the men's ILCA 7 fleet. There are seven countries competing for the two ILCA 6 Olympic tickets, and 17 countries vying for the two ILCA 7 slots.
150 sailors from 34 countries were able to come together for this event, as Vilamoura continues to be one of the few places in the world right now where sailing competitions are open.
As Ireland embarks on its last chance to qualify for the Tokyo Olympic regatta today, there is a new lexicon when it comes to talking about Lasers - the full rig is now known as the ILCA 7, the Radial as the ILCA 6 and the 4.7 is oddly called the ILCA 4.
See here for a reason why 5 has been left off the list for now and information on why the changes were necessary.
Anyway, when looking for results from the final European selection event for the one-person dinghy men, to give its official Olympic name, then "ILCA 7" is what you're looking for.
Two country tickets to Tokyo are on offer in Villamoura this week and a fierce battle is expected as 16 European nations are in competition for those two places.
While lack of competition over the last year makes it hard to assess form, the winners could well come from the group that includes Belgium, Switzerland, Netherlands, Ireland, Spain and Italy.
Blindfold pin-sticking
That's not to say that Portugal won't benefit from home advantage but without a recent event that included all the contenders, its blindfold pin-sticking.
That said, what to watch for:
Unqualified competing countries (number of boats entered): BEL(2), CZE(2), DEN(4), ESP(13), GRE(5), IRL(5), ISR(3), ITA(8), LTU(3), MNE(2), NED(9), POL(3), POR(8), SUI(5), TUR(1), UKR(5).
Afloat will report and comment on each day's racing. The competition begins today (Monday 19 April) and concludes on Saturday 24 April 2021.
More details on the regatta website here
A Practice Race for the 2021 ILCA Vilamoura European Continental Qualification was held yesterday. See vid below.
Finn Lynch Leads Irish Laser Dinghy Men in Last Fight for Tokyo Olympic Qualification in Portugal
Ireland is hoping a five-man team in Portugal can take one of two final nation places in the final men's Laser Olympic qualifier in Vilamoura starting on Monday.
Vilamoura International Regatta is the last chance for the Laser sailors to secure a place for Ireland in Tokyo and will see a fleet of 120 boats all looking for a last-minute speed edge, just 100 days out from the Olympic Regatta itself.
Vilamoura is itself a hastily rescheduled qualifier due to COVID as the earlier venue at Hyeres Regatta in France was cancelled over pandemic fears.
If the Irish can find the pace it will bring the Tokyo Olympic Sailing team up to three boats with the earlier qualification of the Irish Women's Laser Radial in 2019 and the men's 49er skiff a month ago.
Finn Lynch
Despite some strong individual performances across his four-year campaign, inconsistency has prevented next week's main Irish hope, Finn Lynch, from taking a nation place so far.
Lynch's big chance came in 2018 when 40% of all Tokyo places went up for grabs at the World Championships in Aarhus. Despite the fact, he had three top ten results in his score sheet that week he still failed to qualify.
That miss now looks very expensive for the Rio representative as he enters the last chance saloon with up to 17 other countries also looking for elusive Tokyo tickets.
Countries still seeking nation qualification are: Belarus, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Montenegro, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, Switzerland and Ukraine but these can be boiled down to five or six main rivals who are capable of medal race finishes in Vilamoura.
To compound difficulties, nation spots for the Laser Men discipline have been reduced for Tokyo, 11 fewer than at the Rio Games in 2016.
Irish Laser rivals for Tokyo
Lynch also has some strong domestic rivals to contend with in Portugal because whichever Irish sailor qualifies the country next week will get the Olympic nomination.
Liam Glynn (Ballyholme Yacht Club) and Ewan McMahon (Howth Yacht Club) and Tom Higgins and Hugo Kennedy (both of the Royal St. George Yacht Club) are all racing next week.
Team management is saying it's a 'tough task' but of all of them, Lynch has shown he is capable of grinding out the required result.
Personal best is a boost
Coming off the back of the European Championships in Poland last October, Lynch showed the depth of his Olympic ambition and secured a personal best of 13th from a fleet of 126. It's a highly creditable result that will boost the 24-year-old's confidence next week.
"There’s a bunch of good people who still haven’t qualified. There are five or six nations with guys who can have regattas in the top ten but I’m not really focusing on that. I’m focussing on trying to improve on the things that held me back on the last two qualification regattas. And If I can do that, there’s no reason that I cannot get a spot", Lynch told the Irish Laser Class AGM last November. See the full interview here.
Lynch and the rest of the team have benefitted from the exclusive services of Slovenian Vasilij Zbogar, a three-time Olympic medallist, so there is much to say that Lynch - if not one of the five competing - can produce another sensational result, just as the Howth 49er skiff crew did in Lanzarote last month.
The competition begins on Monday 19 April and concludes on Saturday 24 April 2021. More details on the regatta website here
After so much doubt over its final Olympic qualifying event, the men's Laser class has been confirmed for the 17-24th April in Vilamoura, Portugal.
As Afloat previously reported, this is the last chance for the Irish Laser Men to qualify with two nation places up for grabs.
Representing Ireland will be Rio rep Finn Lynch of the National Yacht Club, Liam Glynn of Ballyholme in Northern Ireland and Ewan McMahon of Howth Yacht Club.
For Ireland to qualify, an Irish sailor has to finish in the top two of those European countries that have yet to qualify.
The main contenders for these slots are Italy, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands.
On the Pace Finn Lynch Sixth In Lanzarote's ILCA 7 Fleet
The National Yacht Club's Finn Lynch recovered to a strong sixth from his ninth overall position going into the final day of racing in the ILCA 7 (men's Laser) fleet of 31 boats at the Lanzarote Winter Series Regatta today.
After ten races plus today's light air medal race, the Rio Olympian ended the training regatta some 17 points off fifth overall but ahead of Dutch sailor Duko Bos, and Switzerland's Eliot Merceron both main rivals for one of the final Tokyo qualification berths.
Race win for Tom Higgins
The regatta saw a return to the water for Royal St. George's Tom Higgins after an absence of two days and a what a return he made, winning race ten of the series to beat among others Brazilian legend Robert Scheidt. Scheidt, the holder of two gold medals, two silver medals and a bronze from five Olympic Games, finished second overall to France's Jean-Baptiste Bernaz.
Howth Yacht Club's Ewan McMahon who lost a day due to injury finished 26th.
The regatta takes the Irish men's Laser team a step closer to Hyeres Regatta in April where there are two final Olympic spots available at the planned European Sailing Cup. Up to six countries are in the running – Slovenia, Switzerland, Spain, Netherlands and Belgium and Ireland with Ireland finishing behind all of these at the latest World Championships but, significantly, top of those competing this week in Lanzarote.
Results are here
Lanzarote's Lighter Winds Frustrate Irish Olympic Sailors on Penultimate Day of Winter Series
Annalise Murphy has dropped to fourth overall in the ILCA 6 class after a penultimate day of lighter wind conditions at the Olympic classes Lanzarote Winter Series in the Canary Islands.
The 2016 Irish Olympic silver medalist had overhauled regatta leader Anne Marie Rindom of Denmark by a single point after race eight today and moved briefly into the overall lead but after a 17 scored in race nine this afternoon, the National Yacht Club solo sailor was back in fourth overall with a scoresheet so far of 3,2,2,2,1,6,4,33 and 17.
Conditions were much lighter today than the first two days of rig busting weather in the Canaries competition with easterly winds from six to 13-knots.
Howth Yacht Club's Eve McMahon is lying in 25th place in the 40-boat fleet.
Finn Lynch drops back to ninth
The National Yacht Club's Finn Lynch has dropped back from sixth to ninth overall in the ILCA 7 fleet of 31 boats.
A win for Lynch in race eight provided his best result of the series so far but otherwise, a 21 and 22 scored in today's other two races put the Rio Olympian back three places overall with 76 points overall and a scoreline to date of 14, 2, 6, 7, 22, 3, 21, 1 and 22.
Ewan McMahon returned to the fleet today after an eye injury sustained on Tuesday kept him out of three races. The Howth sailor is lying 23rd overall. Tom Higgins of the Royal St. George Yacht Club did not compete.
The final races of the series including a medal race will be held on Thursday.
Results here.
Finn Lynch Stays Sixth in ILCA 7, Eye Injury for Ewan McMahon at Lanzarote Winter Series
The National Yacht Club's Finn Lynch, Ireland's top hope for an ILCA 7 berth in Tokyo this July, stays sixth overall after six races sailed in a breezy second day of the Lanzarote Winter Series but neither of his Irish teammates competed in today's three tough races in 20-knots and big waves.
Howth Yacht Club's Ewan McMahon was forced to retire from racing following an eye injury in race four this morning. Exact details are not known but it appears the UCD third-year engineering student was struck by a boom end at a gybe mark in the first race. The injury was bad enough to rule him out of racing for the day but it is understood McMahon is 'ok' and should be able to race tomorrow.
Royal St. George's Tom Higgins also counted three 'DNCs'.
Winds are forecast to be lighter for today's racing.
Results here.
Date Fixed for Irish Laser Men Aiming for Final Olympic Place Next April in Hyeres
As Ireland tries to boost its Olympic sailing team from currently one dinghy (Annalise Murphy in the Radial) with two more (a men's Laser and a 49er), the final Olympic qualifier for the men's Laser class has been confirmed for France in April 2021 (French Olympic Week, April 17-24 in Hyeres).
There are still two nation places up for grabs and three Irish men are chasing a final berth. Ireland is up against Italy, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands so it is likely to go right down to the wire before we know who ultimately claims the place.
Finn Lynch, Liam Glynn and Ewan McMahon are all looking for the single berth and whoever finishes on top in the Cote D'Azur will be deemed to have been selected.
Since late summer performance sailing has been back in regatta mode with the team competing across Europe in Poland and Italy.
After training from the Irish Sailing Performance HQ in Dun Laoghaire all summer, once restrictions lifted the Lasers and Laser Radials headed to Lake Garda in Italy for training, and then on to the Italian National Championships – the first time the team had competed since Covid restrictions began. Murphy won this competition overall and from there the team headed to the European Championships in Gdansk, Poland.
As Afloat reported previously, Finn Lynch had a great regatta finishing in 13th position in Gdansk, a personal best for the Dun Laoghaire ace but there was a disappointment overall for Tokyo qualified Murphy. There was another personal best for Lynch's rival Glynn too, who finished 43 from 126.
Howth's Eve McMahon at only 16-years-old had her first senior European championships, qualifying for the Gold Fleet and finishing in 45th - a great marker of future potential.
More on Finn Lynch's plans here