There was agony for Dun Laoghaire's Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey in Buenos Aires this afternoon when, having apparently secured their berth at next year's Rio Olympics after a sensational comeback, lost qualification after a protest at the 49erfx World Championships was lodged by rivals Canada.
The result of the protest handed the final Olympic place to Canada.
The cruel twist means the Irish pair must now look to secure qualification in Europe next Spring where one last Olympic place is available at the Pricesca Sofia Trophy. At least five other nations will be seeking the spot, including two strong Norwegian teams who also missed out today.
The final day of the 49erfx World Championships in Argentina could not have been more dramatic. The Royal Irish YC skiff pair recovered from 23rd overnight to finish 16th overall, moving them up from sixth to third nation seeking Olympic qualification. In so doing it looked like the Dun Laoghaire duo had taken the last of three Rio berths available but the result of the Canadian protest relegated the pair to 19th, crucially dropping them out of contention for the third and final Olympic place.
Brewster and Tidey took to social media to express their feelings: 'Difficult to put into words how broken hearted we are about yesterday's outcome after an unexpected protest. We sailed out of our skin and fought back to take the last Olympic spot from this round. We may not have done it on paper but we have proved we can do it and it should have been team Ireland taking that spot. We have made massive improvements this year and are looking forward to working hard between now and Palma World Cup in March to qualify Ireland for the final European slot! Onwards and Upwards...This will only make us stronger...'
Updated results are here
Also read: Cause for Optimism As Irish 49erfx Crew Can Still Qualify For Rio Olympics