Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern earned Ireland its third place for the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil. The Team IRL sailors have been competing at the ISAF Sailing World Championships in Santander, Spain since Monday, where 50 per cent of the places are being allocated.
Although the pair still have one further race tomorrow in the 80-boat 49er class, they have already created enough of a points gap to secure a coveted top 10 place.
They will have one final Gold fleet race before the top 10 boats progress to Sunday’s medal races where they’ll battle it out for the 49er world title.
“Getting the qualification for Rio is a big boost for us. It’s one box ticked but we still have a job to finish. We’re here to get a medal so we’ve still got to keep pushing hard,” said Seaton.
The Belfast duo are well-versed in the pressures of Olympic qualification having previously competed at the London Games in 2012, where they finished 14th.
“Now we can focus on events in Rio rather than having to compete in Europe at the other qualifiers,” said McGovern. “ From a preparation point of view it makes things a lot smoother.”
Buoyed up by teammates James Espey and Annalise Murphy's earlier regatta performances and qualification for Rio, Seaton and McGovern made waves when they began competing in Santander earlier in the week.
They finished 2nd in their opening race and quickly stationed themselves at the top of the leader board, where they qualified with ease for the Gold fleet.
“Another good day for Team IRL. The boys showed their experience and got first part of job done,” said ISA’s Performance Director James O’Callaghan.
In the female 49erFX Gold fleet, Andrea Brewster & Saskia Tidey had a physically and mentally gruelling four races. The pair capsized in the first race and were unable to finish. Things did not improve with placings of 25, 19 and 20. However, they will have one final shot at Olympic qualification where they must be among the top 10 nations. They are currently 23rd.
