Tough Start for Both Irish Laser Girls at Radial Worlds, Medemblik

22nd August 2017

The first day of racing at Medemblik was delayed due to light winds. Credit: ILCA

In a big step up for under–21 Irish stars, Aoife Hopkins and Aisling Keller embarked on the Laser Radial World Championships in Holland yesterday.

Absent, through injury is Ireland's sailing star Annalise Murphy who had earmarked the event as the start of her Olympic Tokyo 2020 campaign.

The first day of racing at Medemblik was delayed due to light winds.

The 100 competitors raced in two flights with race wins going to Brenda Bowskill (1,16) CAN and Isebella Bertold (1,25) CAN in the first races, and to Monika Mikkola (15,1) FIN and Isebella Maegli (15,1) GUA in the second.

After two races for the women, Kim Pletikos (3,2) of Slovinia tops the leaderboard with five points.

Lough Derg's Keller is 70th and Howth Yacht Club's Hopkins is 82nd.

Making Gold Fleet would be a great achievement for the Irish girls in the journey towards Tokyo 2020.

Top five women after two races:

1. Kim Pletikos, SLO, 5 points
2. Evi Van Acker, BEL, 7
3. Svenja Weger, GER, 10
4. Dolores Moreira Fraschini, URU, 12
5. Maria Erdi, HUN, 12

Top five men after two races:
1. Andrew Godoy, BRA, 5 points
2. Alfonso Fernandez, ESP, 8
3. Daniil Krutskikh, RUS, 13
4. Marco Villani, ITA, 24
5. Axel Rahm, SWE, 25

Published in Laser

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About the ILCA/Laser Dinghy

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):