Rio 2016: Annalise Murphy and sailing course both pass first test

After years of speculation, both Annalise Murphy and Rio answered questions about their respective abilities for their Olympic regatta challenges.

Both more than delivered, at least for the opening day of the series.

For Murphy, who openly admitted recently that her form hasn’t been ideal, winning the first race of her second Olympics echoed her proven ability established at the London 2012 venue of Weymouth & Portland.

Unlike that windy venue, Rio is widely regarded as a light airs city.

Monday, however, saw ideal racing conditions varying in strength from moderate to, briefly fresh winds with some tide on the Escola course area.

Two restarts were needed to get the women’s event underway, fortunately for Murphy neither were particularly good for her and the third saw her in eighth place at the first mark.

“On the first downwind (leg) I managed to catch quite a lot of boats and got into third, then got into first place at the second windward mark before pulling away, so it was a nice way to finish a race,” she said.

Behind her, all three medallists from London 2012 – China's Lijia Xu who won gold and only relatively recently returned to the fray for Rio 2016, Marit Boumeester from the Netherlands and the Belgian bronze medallist Evi Van Acker – plus several other contenders including Paige Railey from the United States and Britain's Alison Young.

Relief and delight were clearly evident on Murphy’s face as she finished with a comfortable 21-second advantage that smacked of her early performances in London in much windier conditions.

But a reality-check soon followed in the second race as Murphy ended in 14th place leaving her fourth overall. Later on after protest hearings ashore, the Rathfarnham sailor’s overall place was upgraded to third place as her second race result changed to 13th place.

In the surprise outcome to the day, it emerged that Railey had protested Xu for not taking a penalty turn promptly as required by the rules. The Chinese sailor was then disqualified from that race and as a result dropped from the overall lead to a punishing 23rd overall while Boumeester took over as leader.

Eight more races remain over the coming week to decide next week’s medal race final.

“It was hard not to think back to London with all the race wins that she had back then but it’s early days and she had a dream start,” said James O’Callaghan of Team Ireland.

Meanwhile, Carlow’s Finn Lynch opened his debut Olympics with a 14th place in his first race followed by a 27th place to lie 21st overall for the day.

“It’s a great feeling today, a bit surreal – having a good day on my first Olympics was great,” said Lynch who was pleased with his performance. “I was good at keeping my head out of the boat and taking my chances when I got them.”

As with Murphy, conditions for the men’s event were also variable.

“To push to the last second in every race was really important – in the last leg of the first race I gained 15 places in the last leg so it just shows how changeable the conditions can be.”

Tuesday’s racing continues in the same course area with similar tidal effects, so the goals for both sailors will be to deliver consistent results across both races, though for Murphy, who is seeking another chance at the podium following her fourth overall four years ago, only top 10 or higher places for the next eight races will do.

“It’s the first day of a long week and with the race win from Annalise but also Finn Lynch’s debut, it was a great way to start the Olympics so all round we’re very happy,” said O’Callaghan.

Meanwhile, the venue facilities performed well with no further hiccups reported while the much heralded water-quality issues also failed to materialise.

“The water quality is perfect – I’ve been here 10 times – and it’s still good,” said Murphy. There was also no evidence of floating objects or obstructions and the water appeared clear and clean.