Consistent sailing by Ireland's Finn Lynch at the ILCA 7 World Championships in Adelaide, Australia, this week shows the depth of the Rio Olympian's ambition to make the Marseille Olympic start line this summer.
According to provisional results (see below), the National Yacht Club ace qualified for the gold fleet on Saturday in 11th place in the 153-boat fleet. Also through to a top-50 coveted gold fleet position is Lynch's Paris 2024 rival, Ewan McMahon of Howth Yacht Club, in 38th place.
An impressive scoresheet of all top ten results thus far of (8.0). 4.0, 6.0, 8.0, 5.0 and 6.0 put Lynch on 29.0 points, just one point off the top ten and 15 off the podium.
"Finn had a really good day again with two solid races and in a good position going into the finals," commented Lynch's coach Vasilij Zbogar. "Even for the best sailors, a small mistake can be really painful, but even when he slips back, he's recovering well".
It's an even performance that makes good on Lynch's pre-event strategy in this single discard championship to take a set of solid results into the finals series.
The regatta also serves as the first round of an Irish Olympic trial for Paris 2024 in the men's singlehanded class.
Reigning Olympic and World champion Matt Wearn is back on top of the leaderboard with a 1,3 to lead the final series on nine points.
Norwegian Hermann Tomasgaard, who was atop the rankings, is now third on 13 points, with Welsh sailor Michael Beckett second on 12.
Conditions are placing considerable demands on all the athletes, and the coming days will also be a fitness test, especially on Monday when the forecast suggests the strongest wind of the week.
There was a hint of this on Sunday as the competition started off with light winds but steadily increased in strength. The afternoon wore on, though, with plenty of shifting directions in a classic sea breeze versus gradient wind.
The event schedule has two races each on Monday and Tuesday for the final round, with the top ten boats in the Gold fleet, then going into a short, high-scoring Olympic-style medal race final on Wednesday while the remaining competitors battle to decide the other overall standings.
Results below.