Flanigan and Owens bow out on positive note

‘You are only as good as your last race,’ is the popular maxim in sailing and it is that which Ireland’s 470 pair Ger Owens and Scott Flanigan will be keeping foremost in their mind after bowing out of the 2012 Olympic regatta with a creditable fifth place yesterday.

They finished well short of the top 10 cut for tomorrow’s medal race, 23rd overall, but the final fifth place race finish will leave them with a positive memory of a regatta which has been disappointing for them.

Flanigan said: “It is a decent note to finish on. The difference today was lighter winds and flat water and we were competitive. Otherwise it was mainly stronger winds and we did not go so well. But I am only 19 and it has been a good learning experience and I will be definitely be pushing towards Rio and 2016.”

With the 49er duo Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern falling four places short of today’s medal race for the skiff class, Ireland’s participation at the Olympic regatta is complete. The 49er duo will regret the second half of their regatta was not as strong as their opening, but they are a young team with a 2016 participation in their sights already.

Meantime, Ireland’s Annalise Murphy may wake up this morning still hurting from missing a medal in the Laser Radial class, but she would do well to take on the lesson from Britain’s Nick Dempsey. Yesterday he laid to rest his 2008 heartache of sliding from possible gold to fourth when he secured a great silver in the RS:X class.