Ireland's only sailor qualified so far for Tokyo 2021, Annalise Murphy races tomorrow in Poland as part of a six-boat Irish Laser team at the class European Championships.
Murphy is in top form for the Gdańsk Bay regatta having been crowned Italian Olympic Week champion late last month as Afloat reported here.
Poland is the first opportunity since the World Championships in Melbourne last February (where Murphy finished just outside the top ten) for the Laser class to compete in a large scale-format with a total fleet of 300 boats and - given the year that's in it - it's also the last chance this season to compete at European level.
Dun Laoghaire's Olympic Rio silver medalist leads a six-boat Irish team of three males and three females at Górki Zachodnie, nearby Gdańsk. Joining Murphy are Howth's Aoife Hopkins and Eve McMahon who compete against 109 other sailors from 36 countries in the women’s Laser Radial fleet. McMahon at 16 years of age, will be one of the youngest competitors in the fleet.
As Afloat readers know, Murphy was nominated for Tokyo after a cut-short trial in June but Hopkins and McMahon are on the start line again regardless with thoughts of campaigns for Paris 2024 already looming into sight. Not competing this week is Aisling Keller, the County Tipperary sailor who secured Ireland's berth for Tokyo in 2019 but was then left 'devastated' after the nomination decision.
All three of the 2016 Rio Olympic medallists will be competing in the Radial: Murphy (Silver), Marit Bouwmeester of the Netherlands (Gold), and Anne Marie Rindom of Denmark (Bronze).
Of course, in her remarkable career, Murphy is no stranger to the European podium, winning on home waters in 2013, a feat she would dearly love to replicate this week.
Irish Laser men look for top Euro result to boost Olympic chances
In the men’s Laser Standard, Finn Lynch, Liam Glynn and Ewan McMahon are racing in a field of 133 sailors from 39 countries. Lynch is in good form having finished seventh in Italy in a high calibre fleet even though he missed the last race. Rival McMahon, in his first Olympic campaign, also fared well in Italy to end up in tenth. Gdańsk will be familiar territory for Ballyholme's Glynn, who won the bronze medal here at the U21 Laser World Championships in 2018.
This week's Euros is an important event for the Irish men as all three continue to look for the form to bring Ireland one of the two remaining Olympic berths early next season.
Despite being on the Baltic Sea, Gdańsk Bay usually has warm weather at this time of the year, but unusual offshore conditions. The forecast is for medium breezes.
Download the event Notice of Race below