Seaton and McGovern qualify for Rio 2016

Ryan Seaton & Matt McGovern have earned Ireland its third place at the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.

The Providence Team IRL sailors have been competing at the ISAF Sailing World Championships in Santander, Spain, since Monday, where 50% of the Olympic places are being allocated.

Although the pair still have one further race tomorrow in the 80-boat 49er class, they have already created enough of a points gap to secure a coveted top-ten nation place.

Upon hearing the news, Ryan Seaton commented: "Getting the qualification for Rio is a big boost for us. It's one box ticked but we still have a job to finish. We're here to get a medal so we've still got to keep pushing hard."

Seaton and McGovern are well-versed in the pressures of Olympic qualification having previously competed at the London Games.

Only ten places are up for grabs in Spain from a competing pool of 33. But the Northern Irish pair knew that to qualify at this stage – almost two years before the Games – would significantly ease that pressure.

McGovern enthused: "Now we can focus on events in Rio rather than having to compete in Europe at the other qualifiers.

"From a preparation point of view it makes things a lot smoother".

Buoyed up by their Providence Team IRL team-mates James Espey and Annalise Murphy's earlier regatta performances, Seaton and McGovern made waves when they began competing in Santander earlier this week.

They finished second in their opening race and quickly stationed themselves at the top of the leaderboard. After the initial two days of the qualifying series, the pair qualified with ease for the gold fleet. From there they have remained in sixth place overall and as the sixth nation.

After two races today it was confirmed that they had enough of a points lead to have earned Ireland yet another Olympic place with one day to spare.

They will have one final gold fleet race tomorrow before the top ten boats progress to Sunday's medal races where they'll battle it out for the 49er world title.

In the female 49erFX gold fleet, Andrea Brewster & Saskia Tidey had a physically and mentally gruelling four races today.

The pair capsized in the first race and were unable to finish.

Things didnt improve too much with 25th, 19th and 20th place finishes.

However, they will have one final shot at Olympic qualification tomorrow where they must be among the top ten nations. They are currently 23rd nation.

Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang

Seaton and McGovern qualify for Rio 2016

Dengan url

http://olahragaenjoy.blogspot.com/2014/09/seaton-and-mcgovern-qualify-for-rio-2016.html

Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya

Seaton and McGovern qualify for Rio 2016

namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link

Seaton and McGovern qualify for Rio 2016

sebagai sumbernya

Olahraga Enjoy