IRELAND’S FINN LYNCH slipped out of medal contention and down the leaderboard on a disappointing day at the ILCA7 World Championships in Dun Laoghaire.

The Rio and Paris Olympian, who led through the first two days of the regatta and lay second at the end of Thursday’s sailing, finished well down the fleet in 33rd and 43rd in his two races on Friday.

Those results saw Lynch drop to 13th place overall on 90 points, leaving him with work to do on Saturday if he is to fight his way back inside the top 10 and qualify for Sunday’s medal races.

Singapore’s Ryan Lo leads the fleet on 37 points, with Great Britain’s Michael Beckett in second on 50 points, and Hungary’s Jonatán Vadnai third on 51 points.

Ireland’s other gold fleet competitor, Ewan McMahon, bounced back from a disappointing 46th in his first race of the day to finish 14th in his second race, placing him 33rd overall.

Lynch found himself on the back foot from the gun in Friday’s first race when he was OCS (on course start) along with McMahon and more than half of the fleet, forcing him to return to the start line and costing him valuable time and position.

With only one gold fleet score eligible to be discarded, the Carlow sailor will find himself carrying at least a 31st and a 33rd as part of his overall tally, and now needs a strong showing in his two races on Saturday to fight his way back inside the top 10 for the medal race cut-off.

The event, which marks the first time that Ireland has hosted an Olympic class world championships in 25 years, runs until Sunday.  

The full leaderboard can be found here.

Written by Niall Kelly and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.