Irish Olympian Laser Radial sailor, Annalise Murphy won a silver medal yesterday at the prestigious Delta Lloyd Regatta in the Netherlands. The event is an Irish qualifier for the Olympic Test event, which will take place in Rio in August of this year. Having already qualified the nation for the Olympics, Annalise was competing in this event as part of her preparations for Rio in 2016.
This year’s regatta contained a star-studded field with Olympic Silver and Bronze medal winners, Marit Bouwmeester and Evi Van Acker competing against the Providence Team IRL sailor. The Dun Laoghaire sailor came into the final day’s medal event two points behind local favourite Bouwmeester who won the Medal race and event. Murphy was under pressure the whole time from Van Acker and despite capsizing once, managed to keep the gap wide enough to ensure she picked up the silver medal with the Belgian taking bronze.
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Annalise now looks forward to the ISAF World Cup series event in Weymouth in the UK from June 8-14.
She spoke after the event, stating “I’m thrilled to podium at this event. Having medalled here, I’m now really looking forward to next months’ World Cup event in Weymouth, which is even tougher, with 40 of the world’s best sailors competing in a new competition format.”
ISA Performance Director James O’Callaghan on the victory: “It was great to see Annalise raise her game so much for the trials. She now gets Ireland's only Laser Radial spot for this summer’s Test Event in Rio."
