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#Rowing: Ireland had two boats which finished just outside the medal placings on the final day of the Coupe de la Jeunesse in Corgeno, Italy, today. The junior women’s and junior men’s quadruples both finished fourth. The women's crew of Sadhbh Scully, Aoife Lynch, Anna Tyther and Lucy McCoy were 1.34 behind the Czech Republic in a race won by Italy, with Spain second. As they had been on the Saturday, the men’s quadruple of Rory O’Neill, Thomas Kelly, Fionn O’Reilly and Andrew Sheehan were again held out of the final medal position by Britain.   

Coupe de la Jeunesse, Corgeno, Italy, Day Two, Sunday (Irish interest)

Men

Junior Quadruple – A Final: 4 Ireland 6:17.33

Women

Junior Four – B Final: 1 Ireland 7:24.53

Junior Pair – B Final: 1 Ireland 8:05.15

Junior Quadruple – A Final: 4 Ireland 7:01.60

Junior Double – B Final: 6 Ireland 7:55.41.  

 

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: The Ireland junior men’s quadruple finished just outside the medals at the Coupe de la Jeunesse in Corgeno, Italy, today. The crew of Rory O’Neill, Thomas Kelly, Fionn O’Reilly and Andrew Sheehan were just .87 off a medal. Italy won from Spain, with Britain just ahead of Ireland in bronze medal spot.

 Ireland had two other A Finalists: the junior double of Chris Kirwan and Holly Davis finished fifth. The new unit had finished a good second in their heat, and were in the leading three in their race until the final quarter. The junior women’s pair of Claragh O’Sullivan and Jane Duggan also took fifth.

 The junior women’s quad and four took second in their B Finals.

 Sunday gives all the crews another chance to compete in heats and finals.

Coupe de la Jeunesse, Corgeno, Italy (Irish interest)

Men

Junior Quadruple – A Final: 4 Ireland 6:21.12.

Women

Junior Four – B Final: 2 Ireland 7:39.41.

Junior Pair – A Final: 5 Ireland 8:26.52.

Junior Quadruple – B Final: 2 Ireland 7:23.26.

Junior Double – A Final: 5 Ireland 8:09.44

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Ireland’s junior women’s eight finished seventh in the first race of the Coupe de la Jeunesse in Corgeno, Italy. The race was won by Spain, with the Netherlands second and Britain third. Eight crews competed.

 The Coupe has two full days of action on Saturday and Sunday.  

 

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Ireland took a silver medal at the World Rowing Under-23 Championships today through the women’s four of Claire Feerick, Eimear Lambe, Tara Hanlon and Emily Hegarty, who swapped into the stroke seat for Lambe.

 Britain and Ireland swept into the lead early and were clear of the rest in the final quarter. Britain found just enough to beat Ireland by 1.46 seconds.

World Rowing Under-23 Championships, Sarasota Bradenton, Florida (Irish interest)

Women

Four – A Final: 1 Britain 6:34.22, 2 Ireland (C Feerick, E Lambe, T Hanlon, E Hegarty) 6:35.68, 3 United States 6:39.89.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: The Ireland lightweight men’s quadruple of Eoin Gaffney, Hugh Sutton, Ryan Ballantine and Miles Taylor took a bronze medal today at the World Under-23 Championships in Sarasota Bradenton in Florida.

 Italy made a tremendous start. They pushed clear of the other five crews and led all the way to the finish line. France and Ireland slugged it out behind them, with the French closing on Italy coming to the line. Ireland also finished fast, but while they overlapped France they could not catch them.

World Rowing Under-23 Championships, Sarasota Bradenton, Florida (Irish interest)

Men

Four, coxed – B Final (places 7 and 8): 1 Ireland (B O’Rourke, R Corrigan, D Lynch, J Quinlan; cox: E Finnegan) 6:18.43, 2 Germany 6:22.17.

Lightweight Quadruple Sculls – A Final: 1 Italy 5:59.12, 2 France 6:00.20, 3 Ireland (E Gaffney, H Sutton, R Ballantine, M Taylor) 6:01.98.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: The Ireland men’s coxed four won their B Final and finished seventh overall at the World Under-23 Championships in Sarasota Bradenton in Florida today.

 Germany were the sole other contenders in this race. Ireland’s Brion O’Rourke, Ross Corrigan, Daire Lynch, James Quinlan and cox Eoin Finnegan got ahead of them early and did not yield.

 They extended their advantage to just over a length and held it to the finish line.  

World Rowing Under-23 Championships, Sarasota Bradenton, Florida (Irish interest)

Men

Four, coxed – B Final (places 7 and 8): 1 Ireland (B O’Rourke, R Corrigan, D Lynch, J Quinlan; cox: E Finnegan) 6:18.43, 2 Germany 6:22.17.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: The Ireland junior men’s eight topped off a series of four Ireland wins – all at junior level – at the Home International Regatta in Strathclyde Park in Scotland. They beat Scotland by just over two seconds, while England came in one second further back.   

 Thomas Hume and Sam Reidy, both from Coláiste Íognáid, were winning their second gold. They had been the best junior men’s pair – coming home more than 20 seconds faster than Scotland, who were second.

 Holly Davis (14) also had a big win on her debut at international level. The Lee Valley girl had almost 12 seconds to spare over second-placed Ellie Cushen of England in the junior women’s single sculls race.

 The junior men’s quadruple also pushed England into second in their race – but by a finer margin. The crew of Dara Kelly (Lee), Tiarnan McKnight (Three Castles) and Colum Brennan and Ronán Brennan  of Neptune won by 1.21 seconds from England.  

Home International Regatta – Strathclyde Park, Scotland: Final Standings:

Men – Senior: 1 Scotland 33 pts; 3 Ireland 22. Jun: 1 Scotland 21; 3  Ireland 19.

Women – Sen: 1 Scotland 33; 4 Ireland 13. Jun: 1 England 26; 2= Ireland, Scotland 17.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: The lightweight double of Aoife Casey and Cliodhna Nolan became the third Ireland boat to qualify for an A Final at the World Under-23 Championships today.

 They won their repechage. Two boats would go to the A Final, and Ireland took over the lead after 1,000 metres and refused to yield despite strong charges by Britain and the Netherlands. The Dutch landed the valuable second spot.

World Rowing Under-23 Championships (Irish interest)

Women

 Lightweight Double Sculls – Repechage (First Two to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Ireland (A Casey, C Nolan) 6:54.54, 2 Netherlands 6:54.76; 3 Britain (1 F Chestnutt) 6:55.86.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: The Ireland women’s four qualified for the A Final at the World Rowing Under-23 Championships in Florida. The crew of Claire Feerick, Emily Hegarty, Tara Hanlon and Eimear Lambe won their repechage – by far the fastest of two – by leading all down the course.  

 The lightweight men’s quadruple also won their preliminary race for lanes. They were ahead through all the four quadrants of the race and won by a length from France.

 The men’s coxed four finished fifth in their repechage. They lost out on the fourth and final qualifying place in the A Final by .49 of a second. Britain and New Zealand passed early leaders South Africa to take first and second, with the South Africans taking third.

 Aoife Casey and Cliodhna Nolan had finished fourth in their heat of the lightweight double sculls.

World Rowing Under-23 Championships, Sarasota Bradenton, United States (Irish interest)

Men

Four, coxed – Repechage (First Four to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Britain 6:12.79, 2 New Zealand 6:13.53, 3 South Africa 6:14.32, 4 United States 6:15.07; 5 Ireland (B O’Rourke, R Corrigan, D Lynch, J Quinlan; cox: E Finnegan) 6:15.56.

Lightweight Quadruple – Preliminary Race: 1 Ireland (E Gaffney, H Sutton, R Ballantine, M Taylor) 6:02.20

Women

Four – Repechage (First Two to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Ireland (C Feerick, E Hegarty, T Hanlon, E Lambe) 6:37.88, 2 China 6:41.23.

Lightweight Double Sculls – Heat One (First two to A Final; rest to Repechage) 1 Switzerland 6:59.78, 2 Germany 7:02.65; 4 Ireland (A Casey, C Nolan) 7:07.28, 5 Britain (1 F Chestnutt) 7:13.48.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Ireland took third place in a fast heat of the women’s four at the World Rowing Under-23 Championships in Sarasota-Bradenton in Florida.

 The winner alone went directly through to the A Final. The United States claimed this spot, with Britain and Ireland closing fast coming to the line. This was much the faster of the two heats.

 The Ireland crew of Claire Feerick, Emily Hegarty, Tara Hanlon and Eimear Lambe would hope to qualify through their repechage on Thursday.

 

World Rowing Under-23 Championships, Sarasota-Bradenton, United States (Irish interest)

Men

Four, coxed – Heat Two (Winner to A Final; rest to Repechages): 1 Australia 6:11.99; 4 Ireland (B O’Rourke, R Corrigan, D Lynch, J Quinlan; cox: E Finnegan) 6:18.79.

Women

Four – Heat One (Winner to A Final; rest to Repechages): 1 United States 6:32.15; 2 Britain 6:32.96, 3 Ireland (C Feerick, E Hegarty, T Hanlon, E Lambe) 6:33.10.

Published in Rowing
Page 5 of 76

Irish Olympic Sailing Team

Ireland has a proud representation in sailing at the Olympics dating back to 1948. Today there is a modern governing structure surrounding the selection of sailors the Olympic Regatta

Irish Olympic Sailing FAQs

Ireland’s representation in sailing at the Olympics dates back to 1948, when a team consisting of Jimmy Mooney (Firefly), Alf Delany and Hugh Allen (Swallow) competed in that year’s Summer Games in London (sailing off Torquay). Except for the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, Ireland has sent at least one sailor to every Summer Games since then.

  • 1948 – London (Torquay) — Firefly: Jimmy Mooney; Swallow: Alf Delany, Hugh Allen
  • 1952 – Helsinki — Finn: Alf Delany * 1956 – Melbourne — Finn: J Somers Payne
  • 1960 – Rome — Flying Dutchman: Johnny Hooper, Peter Gray; Dragon: Jimmy Mooney, David Ryder, Robin Benson; Finn: J Somers Payne
  • 1964 – Tokyo — Dragon: Eddie Kelliher, Harry Maguire, Rob Dalton; Finn: Johnny Hooper 
  • 1972 – Munich (Kiel) — Tempest: David Wilkins, Sean Whitaker; Dragon: Robin Hennessy, Harry Byrne, Owen Delany; Finn: Kevin McLaverty; Flying Dutchman: Harold Cudmore, Richard O’Shea
  • 1976 – Montreal (Kingston) — 470: Robert Dix, Peter Dix; Flying Dutchman: Barry O’Neill, Jamie Wilkinson; Tempest: David Wilkins, Derek Jago
  • 1980 – Moscow (Tallinn) — Flying Dutchman: David Wilkins, Jamie Wilkinson (Silver medalists) * 1984 – Los Angeles — Finn: Bill O’Hara
  • 1988 – Seoul (Pusan) — Finn: Bill O’Hara; Flying Dutchman: David Wilkins, Peter Kennedy; 470 (Women): Cathy MacAleavy, Aisling Byrne
  • 1992 – Barcelona — Europe: Denise Lyttle; Flying Dutchman: David Wilkins, Peter Kennedy; Star: Mark Mansfield, Tom McWilliam
  • 1996 – Atlanta (Savannah) — Laser: Mark Lyttle; Europe: Aisling Bowman (Byrne); Finn: John Driscoll; Star: Mark Mansfield, David Burrows; 470 (Women): Denise Lyttle, Louise Cole; Soling: Marshall King, Dan O’Grady, Garrett Connolly
  • 2000 – Sydney — Europe: Maria Coleman; Finn: David Burrows; Star: Mark Mansfield, David O'Brien
  • 2004 – Athens — Europe: Maria Coleman; Finn: David Burrows; Star: Mark Mansfield, Killian Collins; 49er: Tom Fitzpatrick, Fraser Brown; 470: Gerald Owens, Ross Killian; Laser: Rory Fitzpatrick
  • 2008 – Beijing (Qingdao) — Star: Peter O’Leary, Stephen Milne; Finn: Tim Goodbody; Laser Radial: Ciara Peelo; 470: Gerald Owens, Phil Lawton
  • 2012 – London (Weymouth) — Star: Peter O’Leary, David Burrows; 49er: Ryan Seaton, Matt McGovern; Laser Radial: Annalise Murphy; Laser: James Espey; 470: Gerald Owens, Scott Flanigan
  • 2016 – Rio — Laser Radial (Women): Annalise Murphy (Silver medalist); 49er: Ryan Seaton, Matt McGovern; 49erFX: Andrea Brewster, Saskia Tidey; Laser: Finn Lynch; Paralympic Sonar: John Twomey, Ian Costello & Austin O’Carroll

Ireland has won two Olympics medals in sailing events, both silver: David Wilkins, Jamie Wilkinson in the Flying Dutchman at Moscow 1980, and Annalise Murphy in the Laser Radial at Rio 2016.

The current team, as of December 2020, consists of Laser sailors Finn Lynch, Liam Glynn and Ewan McMahon, 49er pairs Ryan Seaton and Seafra Guilfoyle, and Sean Waddilove and Robert Dickson, as well as Laser Radial sailors Annalise Murphy and Aoife Hopkins.

Irish Sailing is the National Governing Body for sailing in Ireland.

Irish Sailing’s Performance division is responsible for selecting and nurturing Olympic contenders as part of its Performance Pathway.

The Performance Pathway is Irish Sailing’s Olympic talent pipeline. The Performance Pathway counts over 70 sailors from 11 years up in its programme.The Performance Pathway is made up of Junior, Youth, Academy, Development and Olympic squads. It provides young, talented and ambitious Irish sailors with opportunities to move up through the ranks from an early age. With up to 100 young athletes training with the Irish Sailing Performance Pathway, every aspect of their performance is planned and closely monitored while strong relationships are simultaneously built with the sailors and their families

Rory Fitzpatrick is the head coach of Irish Sailing Performance. He is a graduate of University College Dublin and was an Athens 2004 Olympian in the Laser class.

The Performance Director of Irish Sailing is James O’Callaghan. Since 2006 James has been responsible for the development and delivery of athlete-focused, coach-led, performance-measured programmes across the Irish Sailing Performance Pathway. A Business & Economics graduate of Trinity College Dublin, he is a Level 3 Qualified Coach and Level 2 Coach Tutor. He has coached at five Olympic Games and numerous European and World Championship events across multiple Olympic classes. He is also a member of the Irish Sailing Foundation board.

Annalise Murphy is by far and away the biggest Irish sailing star. Her fourth in London 2012 when she came so agonisingly close to a bronze medal followed by her superb silver medal performance four years later at Rio won the hearts of Ireland. Murphy is aiming to go one better in Tokyo 2021. 

Under head coach Rory Fitzpatrick, the coaching staff consists of Laser Radial Academy coach Sean Evans, Olympic Laser coach Vasilij Zbogar and 49er team coach Matt McGovern.

The Irish Government provides funding to Irish Sailing. These funds are exclusively for the benefit of the Performance Pathway. However, this falls short of the amount required to fund the Performance Pathway in order to allow Ireland compete at the highest level. As a result the Performance Pathway programme currently receives around €850,000 per annum from Sport Ireland and €150,000 from sponsorship. A further €2 million per annum is needed to have a major impact at the highest level. The Irish Sailing Foundation was established to bridge the financial gap through securing philanthropic donations, corporate giving and sponsorship.

The vision of the Irish Sailing Foundation is to generate the required financial resources for Ireland to scale-up and execute its world-class sailing programme. Irish Sailing works tirelessly to promote sailing in Ireland and abroad and has been successful in securing funding of 1 million euro from Sport Ireland. However, to compete on a par with other nations, a further €2 million is required annually to realise the ambitions of our talented sailors. For this reason, the Irish Sailing Foundation was formed to seek philanthropic donations. Led by a Board of Directors and Head of Development Kathryn Grace, the foundation lads a campaign to bridge the financial gap to provide the Performance Pathway with the funds necessary to increase coaching hours, upgrade equipment and provide world class sport science support to a greater number of high-potential Irish sailors.

The Senior and Academy teams of the Performance Pathway are supported with the provision of a coach, vehicle, coach boat and boats. Even with this level of subsidy there is still a large financial burden on individual families due to travel costs, entry fees and accommodation. There are often compromises made on the amount of days a coach can be hired for and on many occasions it is necessary to opt out of major competitions outside Europe due to cost. Money raised by the Irish Sailing Foundation will go towards increased quality coaching time, world-class equipment, and subsiding entry fees and travel-related costs. It also goes towards broadening the base of talented sailors that can consider campaigning by removing financial hurdles, and the Performance HQ in Dublin to increase efficiency and reduce logistical issues.

The ethos of the Performance Pathway is progression. At each stage international performance benchmarks are utilised to ensure the sailors are meeting expectations set. The size of a sailor will generally dictate which boat they sail. The classes selected on the pathway have been identified as the best feeder classes for progression. Currently the Irish Sailing Performance Pathway consists of the following groups: * Pathway (U15) Optimist and Topper * Youth Academy (U19) Laser 4.7, Laser Radial and 420 * Development Academy (U23) Laser, Laser Radial, 49er, 49erFX * Team IRL (direct-funded athletes) Laser, Laser Radial, 49er, 49erFX

The Irish Sailing performance director produces a detailed annual budget for the programme which is presented to Sport Ireland, Irish Sailing and the Foundation for detailed discussion and analysis of the programme, where each item of expenditure is reviewed and approved. Each year, the performance director drafts a Performance Plan and Budget designed to meet the objectives of Irish Performance Sailing based on an annual review of the Pathway Programmes from Junior to Olympic level. The plan is then presented to the Olympic Steering Group (OSG) where it is independently assessed and the budget is agreed. The OSG closely monitors the delivery of the plan ensuring it meets the agreed strategy, is within budget and in line with operational plans. The performance director communicates on an ongoing basis with the OSG throughout the year, reporting formally on a quarterly basis.

Due to the specialised nature of Performance Sport, Irish Sailing established an expert sub-committee which is referred to as the Olympic Steering Group (OSG). The OSG is chaired by Patrick Coveney and its objective is centred around winning Olympic medals so it oversees the delivery of the Irish Sailing’s Performance plan.

At Junior level (U15) sailors learn not only to be a sailor but also an athlete. They develop the discipline required to keep a training log while undertaking fitness programmes, attending coaching sessions and travelling to competitions. During the winter Regional Squads take place and then in spring the National Squads are selected for Summer Competitions. As sailors move into Youth level (U19) there is an exhaustive selection matrix used when considering a sailor for entry into the Performance Academy. Completion of club training programmes, attendance at the performance seminars, physical suitability and also progress at Junior and Youth competitions are assessed and reviewed. Once invited in to the Performance Academy, sailors are given a six-month trial before a final decision is made on their selection. Sailors in the Academy are very closely monitored and engage in a very well planned out sailing, training and competition programme. There are also defined international benchmarks which these sailors are required to meet by a certain age. Biannual reviews are conducted transparently with the sailors so they know exactly where they are performing well and they are made aware of where they may need to improve before the next review.

©Afloat 2020