Olympic hopefuls fail to shine

SAILING Spa Olympic Classes Regatta: With just two months preparation remaining before the Athens Olympics, Irish medal prospects in the sailing disciplines are under scrutiny this week following a mediocre showing at the Spa Olympic Classes Regatta in Medemblik, Holland, at the weekend.

Apart from several flashes of encouraging performance, more reflective of the true ability of each squad member, consistency proved elusive yet again and efforts will now focus on dealing with key performance issues before August.

Light airs proved challenging for most of the event but affected all 1,000 competitors alike and still the same names appeared in the winners lists.

Of the Irish squad, veteran David Burrows was best with an eighth overall in the single-handed Finn.

Mark Mansfield with Killian Collins finished 11th overall in the Star, while in the Europe, Maria Coleman dropped to 26th having previously scored a string of top-three results including a race win.

Olympic debutants Ger Owens and Ross Killian steadily improved to finish 14th overall, including a highly-creditable race win in the final yesterday afternoon.

Skiff 49er sailors Tom Fitzpatrick and Fraser Brown return to Ireland with a 30th overall and having missed reaching the Gold fleet of their class in the event.

Among the non-squad members, Aaron O'Grady finished 20th overall in the Finn, indicating he will be a strong contender for the next games and is expected to compete at Kiel Week next month.

Similarly, Roger Craig fared well in the Laser fleet with a 24th overall, while Rory Fitzpatrick, the Irish class nominee for Athens, was not competing.

"There were some encouraging results in individual races but overall, it was a disappointing regatta," said team manager Garrett Connolly.

"If you're not knocking about the top 10 then it's hard to see how you'll be in the hunt at Athens."

Previous performances had suggested Irish crews would be in the "medal zone" at the games.

"Most classes have one regatta left before the games," said Connolly. "For those people who were disappointed with their results, the most important thing to do now is not to panic.

"Review the event that went wrong, isolate those things, and deal with the factors whether tactical or technical, mental or physical," he advised.