Ireland's Finn Lynch has finished eighth in the ILCA 7 Men's World Championship after a strong 6-3 performance in Sunday's two-race Final Series on Dublin Bay, where Hungary's Jonatán Vadnai produced a dramatic last-day charge to take the world title.
The National Yacht Club sailor had only secured the tenth and final place in the Medal Series on Saturday after a remarkable 6-2 recovery, but continued his climb through the standings on Sunday to finish eighth overall.
Vadnai, meanwhile, transformed fifth place going into the finale into World Championship gold with a fourth and a race win.
He finished on 47 points, just one clear of Australia's double Olympic champion Matt Wearn and Britain's Michael Beckett, who tied on 48 points for silver and bronze respectively.
Lynch Climbs Two Places
Lynch carried 45 points into the Final Series after the Qualification Series scores were halved.
A sixth in the opening race kept the Irish sailor in the battle before he produced a third in the championship's final race, bringing his overall score to 54 points.
That lifted Lynch from tenth to eighth overall, level on points with Britain's Finley Dickinson but ranked ahead of the British sailor, who finished 3-9 in the two races.
It completed an impressive weekend recovery for Lynch, who had dropped from second to 13th overall after a difficult Friday and faced the prospect of missing the ten-boat finale altogether.
He responded with 6-2 on Saturday to grab the last Final Series berth before adding Sunday's 6-3.
Vadnai Strikes for Gold
The biggest move, however, came from Hungary's Vadnai.
Starting the finale fifth with an adjusted 42 points, he opened with a fourth before winning the second and decisive race to finish on 47.
Wearn, who began the day ninth and level with Lynch on 45 points, mounted an equally impressive medal charge with 1-2, giving the Australian 48 points and silver.
Beckett's 7-5 left him on the same 48-point total and with bronze.
Italy's Lorenzo Brando Chiavarini finished fourth on 49 after 2-4, while overnight leader Elliot Hanson endured a difficult finale.
The British sailor had carried the lowest score of 31 into Sunday but finishes fifth after eighth and tenth places left him on 49 points.
Lo Drops From Second to Seventh
Singapore's Ryan Lo, who had led much of the latter part of the championship and began Sunday second, also suffered in the short Final Series races.
Scores of tenth and eighth dropped Lo to seventh overall on 50 points.
Croatia's Tonci Stipanovic took sixth, also on 50, behind fifth-placed Hanson.
The final top ten are Vadnai, Wearn, Beckett, Chiavarini, Hanson, Stipanovic, Lo, Lynch, Dickinson and Hong Kong's Nicholas Halliday.
For Lynch, eighth place concludes a championship in which the Irish Olympian led on home waters after the opening days, fell outside the Final Series places with just two qualifying races remaining and then fought his way back into the top ten before climbing another two places in Sunday's finale.
