Described as a regatta that is ‘not important in terms of results’ by the Irish Sailing Association, Laser sailor Finn Lynch's consistent score against a quality fleet in the Bay of Palma has, on the contrary, produced a very important result that reveals the depth of his Paris ambitions.
By dint of an error-free series and a thrilling medal race finish, the National Yacht Club ace took fourth overall at the Princesa Sofia Trophy, the first Olympic classes regatta to be sailed in three years.
It's yet another credible international career-high in a fleet of 160 for the 25-year-old and a result that matches his previous best overall score from Mallorca in 2019.
The ILCA 7 medal race
Lynch went into the medal race in fifth place having climbed up the top ten from ninth on Wednesday and made the best of the points situation to finish with the leather medal.
With the moderate breeze freshening off Ca'n Pastilla on the Bay of Palma, the ILCA7 medal race was the first final to get underway for the Princess Sofia trophy and Lynch made a clean start and was up to fourth place by the first mark.
In the next two legs, he held the lead until the final few hundred metres when the wind freshened on the opposite side of the course and he was overtaken on the finishing line to place third in a group of overlapped leading boats.
Nevertheless, the result was enough to move him from fifth to fourth place, continuing his rise through the ranks of the top ten boats all week.
Britain's Michael Beckett placed seventh in the race and took the Gold medal as Afloat reports here while Australia's Matt Wearn was second and took Silver. Germany's Philippe Buhl was last in the race and placed third overall.
Finn Lynch put together a really solid event in Palma while sailing with a swollen arm that meant taking painkillers for two days of the competition Photo: Sailing Energy
Far from being 'not important', Saturdays’ fourth overall result is a valuable confidence boost both in terms of Lynch's physical and mental preparations, right at the beginning of a crucially short Olympic cycle for Paris 2024.
The Laser hopeful who, did not qualify for Tokyo but a few months later finished second at the World Championships last November has had a head-scratching time of it of late.
While whatever happened for Tokyo is not easy for Lynch or his supporters to reconcile, the hope now must be that the 2021 Worlds and 2022 Palma scoresheets bring with them a real sense of belief.
After all, Lynch became Ireland’s youngest ever Olympic helmsman when he qualified for Rio at the first attempt in 2016.
Judging by his early achievements already in this triennial there is no reason he cannot repeat the feat for Marseille in arguably the hottest of all the Olympic classes.
After a 'challenging' Tokyo Review, Irish Sailing needs to show it is putting all efforts into ensuring Lynch's promising tack towards Paris continues. It should do its utmost to eliminate any needless shoreside aggravation, (such as onerous clauses in team contracts) that have the potential to knock him or indeed other team members off course.
Next up for Lynch is May's defence of his 2021 silver medal at this year's Worlds to be held in Puerto Vallarta in Mexico.
Full results here
Britain's 27-year-old Michael Beckett from Pemorkeshire took Princesa Sofia Trophy Gold in the ILCA 7 class Photo: Sailing Energy
