A win for Ireland's Finn Lynch on the first day of Gold fleet racing in the Laser World Championship in Japan has boosted his hopes of qualifying Ireland for Tokyo 2020 when the series concludes on Tuesday.
Lynch placed 42nd in the first race of the day, a result that was dropped using the series discard. He had narrowly won a place in the Gold fleet by finishing 50th out of 156 boats in the the three-day qualification series.
But his early season top form hadn’t appeared until Sunday’s second race, when a strong start saw him in the top five boats at the first mark.
He then pulled into the lead steadily over the coming three legs and ended with an emphatic first place thanks to a 50-metre lead.
Four races still remain in the final round over the coming two days; more top 10 results or better are still needed to achieve Tokyo 2020 qualification.
