The Chinese Test Event is seen as a major indicator in the sailor selection process for many of the teams competing in the 2008 Olympic Games.
Some positive individual scores will give heart to Irish selectors chaired by Colm Barrington who have declared only sailors capable of delivering a top eight result next year or those who are seen as prospects for 2012 will be considered for OCI nomination.
Only the Dun Laoghaire 470 crew finished in the top third of their fleet.
Ger Owens and Phil Lawton made it into the 470 medal race to give them tenth overall in a fleet of 27.
The reigning 470 World Champions triumphed in that division with Australian's Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page winning the medal race to secure gold.
In the men's keelboat class the Star pair Maurice O'Connell and Ben Cooke, made it to the medal race and finished tenth in a fleet of 17. They took a creditable sixth in the medal race overhauling many of the world's top crews.
Otherwise with exactly a year to go to the games itself Irish selectors have been presented with a mixed bag of results following a week where Qingdao both lived up to its reputation as a difficult light air venue but also surprised with breezes reaching 12 knots by yesterday's closing day.
The 49er due Russell and Matt McGovern were 20th out of 23. Tim Goodbody was 19th out of 25 in the men's Finn single hander finishing second in the penultimate round. Debbie Hannah was 22nd from 30 in the Laser radial.
|There appears to be no stopping the rise and rise of the British team who won two further Gold medals yesterday taking the total medal haul to 5 Gold and 1 Silver.
In an incredibly close finish, Paul Goodison won Gold in the men’s singlehanded Laser class by three seconds, to give Skandia Team GBR, the British sailing team preparing for the Olympic Games in Beijing 2008, their fourth Gold medal at the 2007 Olympic Test Event. Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson also won Gold in the highly competitive Yngling class finishing nine points ahead of the Dutch team in second place.
