Ireland's most successful Olympic sailor, Annalise Murphy, is set to return to top-level international dinghy competition with an application to compete at the 2026 ILCA 6 Women's World Championships on her home waters of Dublin Bay.
The Rio 2016 Olympic silver medallist has applied for an Irish place at the World Championships, which will be co-hosted by Murphy's own National Yacht Club and the Royal St George Yacht Club in Dún Laoghaire from September 5th to 12th.
The application marks a significant return to the Olympic single-handed dinghy for Murphy, five years after she brought her Olympic career to an end following the Tokyo Games in 2021.
The 36-year-old Dubliner remains one of the biggest names in Irish sailing and her return to the ILCA 6 — formerly known as the Laser Radial — would add considerable home interest to one of the biggest international sailing championships ever staged on Dublin Bay.
Worlds Comeback — Annalise Murphy is listed as awaiting an entry offer for the 2026 ILCA 6 World Championships in Dún Laoghaire after applying for an Irish place on July 16th
The latest entry information shows Ireland with four allocated places for the championship. Three sailors — Paris 2024 Olympian Eve McMahon, Lucy Ives and Sienna Wright — are already entered, while Murphy is listed first on the waiting list with the status "Waiting Entry Offer" following her application on July 16th.
A fifth application, from Elspeth Simms of Canada, was cancelled by the sailor in March.
While Murphy's entry is officially still shown as an application, sources indicate that completing the four-boat Irish quota should make her acceptance a formality.
Her appearance would create an intriguing Irish line-up headed by Murphy and Howth's Eve McMahon, who has emerged as Ireland's leading ILCA 6 campaigner since the Rio silver medallist stepped away from Olympic competition.
Murphy represented Ireland at four Olympic Games, finishing fourth at London 2012 before winning silver in Rio four years later. She subsequently switched to the 49erFX before returning to the Laser Radial for her fourth Olympic campaign at Tokyo.
The prospect of Murphy returning to World Championship competition will provide an additional dimension to the ILCA 6 Worlds, with the championships being staged at the club where she grew up sailing.
The women's championship runs from September 5th to 12th, with official training at the venue beginning on August 31st. It follows the ILCA 7 Men's World Championships in Dún Laoghaire from August 23rd to 30th.
The two championships represent a major international showcase for Dún Laoghaire, with the ILCA 6 and ILCA 7 being the single-handed dinghies used for the women's and men's events respectively at the Olympic Games. The women's fleet is limited to 120 competitors.
