Sailing:Annalise Murphy was always going to have to take the rough with the smooth in her quest for an Olympic medal and so it proved in calmer conditions at Weymouth today. The overall leader in the Laser Radial class, flawless before today, handed the initiative to her rivals after a difficult day's racing.
Murphy, with four wins from four over the opening two days, could only post finishes of eighth and 19th place as the wind steadfastly refused to rise above a gentle breeze. By no means disastrous, not least when you consider one of the results from the 10 race series can be discarded before Monday’s medal race, it was far from ideal for the Dublin sailor.
Using that 19th place as her discard, Murphy still leads the overall standings by two points from Evi Van Acker. The Dutch world champion Marit Bouwmeester is up to third place while Britain’s Alison Young cannot be discounted. The entire fleet will have a day to regroup tomorrow before the regatta resumes on Friday afternoon.
Elsewhere in Weymouth, Ireland’s 49er crew of Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern dropped to ninth in the overall standings after finishing 12th and 19th in their two races. The duo jumped the gun in the sixth race and were forced to restart, the mistake keeping them out of touch with the fleet for the rest of the race.
And James Espey’s struggles continued as he finished 47th in the fifth race in the men’s Laser.