Annalise Murphy now in strong position

Light and shifty conditions occasionally gusting fresh saw Ireland’s Annalise Murphy move into the silver position after four races in the early stages of the Olympic Games regatta at Rio yesterday.

Originally in fourth place after day one, her position overnight improved to third place as Lijia Xu was disqualified from a race on Monday.

Murphy sailed out from Marina da Gloria sporting the bronze shield on her sail denoting her standing in the 37-strong class; this morning she’ll sail out with the silver denotation as a weather front is expected to deliver windier conditions.

The Rathfarnham sailor delivered a fourth and seventh place for the day though at one stage she was in the joint lead of her first race.

Xu meanwhile, re-entered the fray with a vengeance scoring a third and a race win to open up a five point lead over Murphy who in turn leads a tightly grouped pack of pursuers.

As Murphy predicted, most competitors are enduring difficult results at some stage even as the qualification round reaches the halfway stage today.

The top 10 boats will go forward to a medal race final on Monday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Carlow’s Finn Lynch had a mixed day where he placed 15th in the opening race.

Frustratingly for him, he had been in the leading group on the first lap of the course but elected to take the less favourable turn at the leeward gate and slipped down.

Frustration turned to dejection in the second race where he placed 40th, a result now discarded as his worst score but sees him slip from 21st to 24th overall.

Two more races are scheduled for the Laser classes today followed by a rest or reserve day tomorrow. The men’s and womens’ skiff events start on Friday.