Irish Sailing Team head for European Championships
by Treasa Cox 14 Nov 2022 12:15 GMT
Finn Lynch at the 2021 ILCA 7 World Championships © David Branigan / Oceansport
The Irish Sailing Laser Team are travelling to Hyères in France for the EURILCA Senior European Championships which see both men and women competing in the ILCA 6 and 7 (formerly Laser and Laser Radial).
On the team are Olympian and world silver medallist Finn Lynch (National YC) and siblings Ewan and Eve McMahon (Howth YC).
This summer Finn Lynch was placed second in the world in the World Sailing rankings, due to his silver medal at the ILCA7 World Championship in Barcelona in November 2021 which he then followed with a consistent set of 2022 results including fourth place at the Princess Sofia Regatta in Palma in April and his sixth place at the 2022 ILCA 7 Men's World Championship in Mexico in May.
The Hyères regatta will be Eve McMahon's last competition of the year after an extremely successful summer winning a hat-trick of gold medals at the ILCA6 (Laser Radial) Youth European Championships in Greece, the World Sailing Youth World Championships in the Netherlands, the ILCA6 (Laser Radial) Youth World Championships in Texas, and finishing with silver at the U21 ILCA Youth World Championships in Portugal in August.
The Irish Sailing Academy is represented by World Sailing Youth World Champion Rocco Wright who competes in the ILCA 6 (Laser Radial) Men's fleet.
There are 177 in the ILCA 7 men's fleet from 44 countries and another 111 in the women's ILCA 6 fleet from 38 countries.
Amongst the competitors are Olympic medallists and world champions Agata Barwinska POL, Michael Beckett GBR, Lorenzo Brando Chiavarini ITA, Marit Bouwmeester NED, Elliot Hanson GBR, Pavlos Kontides CYP, Zac Littlewood AUS, Emma Plasschaert BEL, Tonci Stipanovic CRO, Hermann Tomasgaard NOR and Matthew Wearn AUS.
Also competing are Tom Higgins (Royal St George YC) and Jamie McMahon (Howth YC), the third of the McMahon siblings.
The team is supported by Irish Sailing Head coach Rory Fitzpatrick (OLY) and ILCA 7 coach Vasilij Zbogar, three-time Olympic medallist from Slovenia.
"Whether you are a true contender like Finn Lynch or stepping up from youth sailing like Eve and Rocco we know there is a huge amount to gain for us in this European Championship. The team will be looking to put their best sailing out on the water all week to round up the 2022 season," commented Fitzpatrick.
Racing begins on Wednesday 16 November and concludes with the medal races on Monday 21 November.
To follow the competition and results: 2022-senior.eurilca-europeans.org/results