Finn Lynch Wins U19 Laser Standard World Championship

23rd August 2014

#FinnLynch - Aspiring Olympian Finn Lynch is the new U19 Laser Standard World Sailing Champion.

The Carlow native made a comeback this afternoon (Saturday 23 August) at the U21 Laser Standard & Radial World Championship in Douarnenez, France to win gold in the U19 category.

The regatta began on Monday 18 August and after 10 races in varying, shifty conditions, Lynch lay eighth overall in the 101-boat fleet and third among the U19s.

The final race began this afternoon and Lynch, with his eyes on the prize, got off to a great start and battled it out at the top of the fleet throughout the 40-minute race.

He crossed the line to finish third, comfortably ahead of overnight U19 leaders Joel Rodriguez from Spain and Maxim Nikolaev from Russia, to claim the U19 world title and gold medal.

And he just narrowly missed out on the U21 bronze, finishing fourth overall in that category.

This is a significant achievement for Lynch, having only graduated to the senior Laser Standard class earlier this year.

In less than three weeks’ time he will compete alongside fellow Laser Standard sailor James Espey from the Irish Olympic Sailing Team - Providence Team IRL in Santander, Spain at the first 2016 Olympic qualifier event.

During this championship, Lynch will be aspiring to finish within the top 23 nations in order to qualify Ireland for the Rio Games.

Meanwhile, Lynch's teammate Fionn Lyden from Cork finished an impressive 11th overall.

And in the female Laser Radial class, Tipperary local Aisling Keller also narrowly missed out on a medal, finishing fourth in the U19 category and 22nd overall.

Published in Laser

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MacDara Conroy

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MacDara Conroy is a contributor covering all things on the water, from boating and wildlife to science and business

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The ILCA, formerly known as the Laser, is the most produced boat in the world, with 220,000 units built since 1971.

It's easy to see why the single-handed dinghy has won the title of the most widely distributed boat of all time.

The Laser is a one-design dinghy, the hulls being identical but three rigs that can be used according to the size and weight of the sailor.

The class is international, with sailors from 120 countries. The boat has also been an Olympic class since 1996, being both the men's and women's singlehanded dinghy.

Three rigs are recognised by the International Laser Class Association (ILCA):