All-Ireland title tops successful summer for Rostrevor sailor Quinn

All-Ireland Youth Laser Radial Sailing Champion, Conor Quinn © Sailing today

Conor Quinn, an Irish sailor from Rostrevor and a member of Carlingford Lough Yacht Club (CLYC) and Rush Sailing Club (RSC), has recently been crowned the all-Ireland Youth Laser Radial Sailing Champion for 2017.

Receiving the prestigious accolade tops a successful summer for the young sailor, having also represented Ireland at the European Championships in Gdynia, Poland and the World Championships in Medemblik, Holland, at which he finished 31st and 32nd place respectively in a highly competitive field of 280 sailors from over 50 countries.

Following impressive spells in both national and international sailing competitions over the past few months, Quinn's success has seen him achieve the required selection criteria to be nominated as the sole Irish Laser Radial representative in the International Sailing Federation Under 19 Youth Sailing World Championships in China in December.

The required selection criteria is set out by the Irish Olympic Steering Group and previous ISAF (World Sailing) sailors such as Annalise Murphy and Finn Lynch have gone on to represent Ireland at the Olympics.

Conor Quinn commented: "I'm really pleased to have been able to deliver consistently throughout the summer and to have met the criteria for the ISAF World Championships in China later in the year.

"I hope to continue my good run of form into China and am hungry for further success on the international stage.

"Having witnessed top Irish athletes like Annalise (Murphy) and Finn (Lynch) succeed at this level and go on to represent Ireland on the ultimate world platform at the Olympics, gives me the motivation to follow in their footsteps."

Further to Quinn's impressive sailing efforts this summer, he also secured a place at Newcastle University to study Accounting & Finance, a course in which he embarks on in the coming weeks.

Conor Quinn is supported by Newry-based sports technology firm STATSports Group and regularly wears their most up to date, high performance sports monitoring GPS unit during training sessions, which analyses and gives him added insight into his performance prior to any upcoming competitions.

Part of the RYANI Performance Academy, Quinn also trains with the Irish Sailing (ISA) Youth Academy.

STATSports have an impressive client list, which includes some of the world's biggest sports teams, for example, Manchester United, Barcelona, Carolina Panthers, Chicago Bulls, Ireland Rugby and the All Blacks. Elite athletes such as Lionel Messi, Neymar, Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku wear the STATSports training unit on a daily basis.