Ireland's Finn Lynch of the National Yacht Club is lying within the Olympic nation qualifying criteria for Paris 2024 in 14th place out of 16 nations going into the final two races of the Sailing World Championships in The Hague.
The Rio 2016 ILCA 7 representative – who failed to qualify for Tokyo 2020 – moved up 11 places in the overall standings from 33 to 22 on Thursday to be within the first Paris berth allocations.
A strong tidal current and fresh winds meant a physical and tactical day for the ILCA7 class single-handers.
In the opening race, Lynch placed second at the first mark but hit it in the strong tide, and after taking his penalty turn, he went on to finish in eighth place.
Tide again played a pivotal role in the second race that saw the former world championship silver medalist finish 17th in the 80-strong fleet.
With two races remaining, on the overnight standings, he is 22nd overall and is unlikely to make the medal race but within the Olympic qualifying criteria in 14th out of 16 nations, so a repeat performance or better is required on Friday.
Ireland's second boat racing in Gold fleet for the ILCA7 event saw Ewan McMahon (Howth Yacht Club) avoid multiple collisions at the first mark and place 23rd in the opening race. He then discarded a 50th in the next race to hold 43rd overall and aims to deliver a top-half overall result.
A top two is starting to emerge in the ILCA 7 with Micky Beckett (GBR) and Matt Wearn (AUS) starting to move clear of the field.
Beckett recovered from a difficult position in the second race of the day to finish eighth, and still holds an 11-point lead over Wearn.
The bigger gap comes after the Australian however, with George Gautrey (NZL) 21 points back in third, followed closely by Pavlos Kontides (CYP) and Jean-Baptiste Bernaz (FRA).
Friday's forecast is for light winds in the morning, when the final two races are currently scheduled for. With Spring tide conditions reaching their fastest flow of the week, Saturday's reserve day may yet be needed to complete the fleet series.
Results here.