The Irish pair, Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove, who were part of the Tokyo veteran team, clinched a place for the upcoming Paris Olympics, following the culmination of the Irish selection trials held at La Grande Motte past Sunday.
The decision came in after the final fleet race was cancelled due to insufficient winds in the morning. Despite these hurdles, the Dublin representative team ranked eighth and made their way into the final round of medal race.
The final scores saw them outperform their competitors from Cork, Séafra Guilfoyle and Johnny Durcan, who concluded their 49er class European championship with their highest performance so far as they secured the 12th position.
This achievement lines up Dickson and Waddilove aptly for their next Olympic undertaking, drawing on the results of the previous November’s European Championship. It was there they snatched a place for their nation in the men’s skiff event leading to Paris. The trials going all the way to the probable final race of the concluding event, highlights the performance of both teams.
Although Dickson and Waddilove commenced the season with a shaky start without taking an anticipated lead from their experienced counterparts, Guilfoyle and Durcan failed to resolve some of their consistent problems that previously restricted their potential until both teams contested in the final event in France for the European title.
As the week unfolded, the Dublin duo started displaying their usual prowess including a few top ten finishes and a race victory. The team from Crosshaven mirrored their success, escalating the anticipation of their potential to secure the singular position for the games.
Both teams exhibited a lacklustre performance at the beginning of the opening event of the trial series at the 49er world championships in Lanzarote in March. In the subsequent world cup of Sailing in Hyerés, Dickson and Waddilove barely led the series by a meagre five points, a lead easily overtaken in a single race.
The preceding week comprised of qualification and final rounds with 14 races in total. Guilfoyle and Durcan steadily closed the gap as both teams moved up in the overall rankings of the 68-boat event. However, the experience and expertise of the Dublin team eventually clinched the victory, reminiscent of their form in the Tokyo regatta when they claimed victory in both the opening and closing races.
Despite not achieving victory in the trials, the team from Crosshaven made up for it through their most stellar performance till date. This outstanding display indicates their goal for a momentous anticipation of the Los Angeles event, four years hence.
Dickson and Waddilove are set to align with Rio 2016’s seasoned player, Finn Lynch, as well as the fresh and internationally renowned talent, Eve McMahon. The duo is predicted to be integrated into the country-wide squad’s one-person dinghy classifications, an announcement planned by Ireland’s Olympic Federation in the following month.