Finn Lynch will be the sole Irish sailor competing in Saturday's medal race final for the ILCA7 class at the 1,000-competitor Princess Sofia Trophy in Mallorca.
The Carlow sailor improved his overall standing to fifth place at the end of the Gold fleet series that he achieved consistently high scores in. However, the best that Lynch can hope for is fourth place in the final as the points difference to the podium limits the final to four contenders.
Fourth place would match his result from 2019 at the same event, which marked a period of steadily improving results in his quest to qualify for Tokyo 2020 to match his debut Olympics at Rio in 2016.
However, his performance slipped soon after the Mallorcan event three years ago, and he missed out on a place for Japan at the final qualifier a year ago.
Since last Summer, Lynch has won silver at the class world championships in Barcelona and is building towards the forthcoming worlds in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, in May.
Friday’s final day saw Lynch serve up a fifth place but he went on to place 22nd in Race 10, his worst score of the regatta. The day was still good enough to move him up one place from his overnight result in one of the most consistent performances of his event.
After racing ended it emerged that the National Yacht Club sailor has been carrying a swollen arm for the past two days and is taking painkillers, though he doesn't believe it affected his actual racing performance.
Saturday's medal race final takes place off S'Arenal on the Bay of Palma at 10.30am (Irish time).
Seven points
Meanwhile, Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove missed a place in the medal race final in their 49er skiff event despite scoring two seventh places in Friday's racing.
In the opening race the pair ended in last place after a broken tiller-extension led to a capsize. Their final overall place was 13th, just seven points off a place in the final.
Earlier in the regatta they were disqualified from a race in which the protest committee founds facts that appeared to exonerate them from a “right of way” incident but subsequently disqualified them anyway along with two other boats.
Had that disqualification not occurred their final standing would have been sixth place, inside the top 10 and contenders for a podium result.
However, speaking after racing Waddilove dismissed the protest as a factor in missing out on the top 10 result.
“It’s not ideal to be having protests, they do take up a lot of energy after sailing but its part of sailing and happens every day,” he said.
The pair have work to do on small changes to their risk-management strategy for race starts ahead of their next big event in Hyeres, France, at the end of April.
