A cursory glance at the current standings for the Laser Radial European Championships in Aarhus, Denmark, this week doesn't offer much Irish interest as the event reaches it's final races on Friday.
No sign of Ireland’s Annalise Murphy in the top three or top 10 and it’s not until the lower reaches of the Gold fleet that the Rathfarnham single-hander’s name appears.
This was the same event that just two years ago she mastered on home waters when it was hosted by her own National Yacht Club at Dun Laoghaire.
But that regatta served a different purpose to this week’s championship and the only common link between the two is that they both mark the road to the Rio Olympics now barely one year away.
Absent too from Aarhus are many of the top-ranked women that typically dominate the Laser Radial pre-Olympic events. The international fixtures list is so ram-packed with events that sailors are opting to “miss” important regional championships.
But for Murphy, the Dublin Bay title win was an important victory not only because it helped bury the so-called “leather-medal” or fourth place at the London 2012 Games but because her campaign had designated that championship as a performance event.
This week is a “process-regatta”, dedicated to improving key aspects of her technical delivery in championship conditions, notably the larger fleet in attendance that is often hard to replicate in other regattas.
To that end, she will have completed up to 12 races since last weekend though with mostly mid-fleet results, any hope of a title defence is very distant while a race win and a second place on Tuesday were notable exceptions and she lies 20th overall.
“It’s not a peak event so she’s working on her processes such as linking starts and strategy but using a big fleet which is more realistic,” said her coach Rory Fitzpatrick. “I’ve been very happy with her execution of it.”
Strong tide
Emphasis switches to the venue for next year’s games from early August. Several course areas could be used and with big mountains surrounding it and strong tide it’s regarded as a challenging venue.
“You want to win while you’re at home so the [Europeans 2013] was definitely a goal event. But now all the focus is aimed at Rio and everything leading up to it such as the worlds in Oman and the Olympic test event are her main goals now.”
Meanwhile, future Irish hopes received a boost this week with the performance by Waterford Harbour’s Geoff Power in the Topper World Championships at Lake Garda in Italy where he lies in second place overall. A 7am start is planned for Friday morning to make up for Thursday’s lack of wind that didn’t allow racing. Up to four races are possible for the final day.
