Ireland’s hopes of a place in the Gold fleet at the 49er World Championships ended on Thursday as both Irish men’s crews missed the cut in Cagliari.
Ben O’Shaughnessy and Ethan Spain were unable to back up Wednesday’s surge and finished outside the top 25, but the young pairing said the experience will drive their progress. “We definitely had some highs and we had some lows but we’ve learned so much from it,” said Spain. “I’m really happy with what we got out of it – our first world championship and we were only here for experience and we’ve definitely got that out of it!”
O’Shaughnessy said the standard of racing was eye-opening. “It’s cut-throat racing with the best in the world – every inch counts. We’re just getting used to that kind of racing and we love it.”
LA2028 Olympic campaigners Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove ended the nine-race qualification in 40th overall, 15 places short of Gold fleet qualification. The result followed race strategy struggles in the light conditions despite improvements in starting and speed.
“It didn’t go as planned,” said Dickson. “It was the strategy that was letting us down, just not really identifying the priority in the races and not really figuring it out. It’s quite a disappointing result – we’re not here to be scraping into Gold fleet – we’re here for medals.”
Coach Matt McGovern admitted the outcome was below expectations. “I’m shocked and disappointed with where we’re sitting. In truth, top five is cautious, I thought we’d do much better than that.”
Both crews now move to Silver fleet racing over the next two days.
There was better news in the women’s 49erFX, where Erin McIlwaine and Ellen Barbour scored a third, a second and a 15th to climb to 37th overall. They now race in Silver fleet. “These results are the breadcrumbs of success that act as motivation to continue and to improve,” said James O’Callaghan, Irish Sailing Performance Director.
Internationally, Australia’s Jack Ferguson and Jack Hildebrand have taken the overall lead after nine races. The pair posted only top-six results until a 12th in the final qualifier, which they discard. “We’re pretty happy with how we’ve sailed this qualifying series,” said Ferguson. “The breeze has been all over the place. We’ve been finding the knocks and tacking on them and keeping the boat going fast.”
Five points back are the Polish team of Mikolaj Staniul and Jakub Sztorch, tied with the Netherlands’ three-time world champions Bart Lambriex van Aanholt and Floris van de Werken. Another point behind are Olympic champions Diego Botin and Florian Trittel of Spain.
The Norwegian brothers Mathias and Markus Berthet claimed the final Gold fleet spot in 25th. Among those missing out were Australians Otto Henry and Shaun Connor, and last year’s Moth World Champion Mattias Coutts with Oscar Gunn of New Zealand.
Gold, silver and bronze fleet racing begins Friday, with a new umpired medal race format for the top four boats scheduled for Sunday.
