Sailing elite just the latest sporting royalty to sample Ireland's hosting charms

Ireland’s Finn Lynch leading the fleet. Pic: ©INPHO/David Branigan.

Katie Taylor’s swansong is about to fill out Croke Park, the Ryder Cup is coming to Adare in little over a year, and the Aviva will host no less than six European Championship games come 2028.

Ireland has never had it so good when it comes to big-time sporting events in our own back yards.

The NFL came to the capital last year for the first time, the game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Minnesota Vikings building on momentum banked from an ongoing run of college football events on the other side of the Liffey.

Pre-season friendlies featuring Premier League sides are, like ‘em or love ‘em, a feature of the wider landscape, and that’s all before the usual diet of rugby, football and GAA games that stitch through your regular year.

It’s two years since the government announced its 'Major international sports events policy and strategy framework' aimed at attracting high-profile sporting competitions to these shores, but genuine examples of the species are rare in an Olympic context.

We’re not talking about hosting the entire five-ringed circus here, as then Fianna Fail senator and current TD and Minister Malcolm Byrne did at the height of a national state of giddiness two summers ago when Team Ireland was hoovering up medals in Paris.

Byrne’s proposal, that we should bring the gig here in 2072, followed up on similar calls down the years from the likes of Shane Ross and Gay Mitchell, but life in the real world demands more doable ambition.

Ireland still doesn’t have an athletic stadium capable of catering for anything like a top international meet. The swimming venue at the last Olympics held 15,000 people, Ireland’s National Aquatic Centre can squeeze in just one-sixth of that.

The hoped-for opening of a new winter sport and general multi-purpose venue, Prime Arena, on Dublin’s southside in the coming years could open doors for the holding of some European or World championships, but options are still limited.

All of which makes this week’s 2026 ILCA 7 Men’s World Championships on Dublin Bay such a rarity as 140 sailors from 46 countries congregate for what will be the first Olympic-class sailing event held in Ireland for 25 years.

Six days of racing will be reeled off as the world’s top sailors in the ILCA 7 class , a single-handed dinghy used for the men’s events at the Olympics, maintain course for the LA Games in two years time.

The event is being hosted jointly by the Royal St George Yacht Club and the National Yacht Club, and Ireland’s challenge will be led by 2024 Olympian Finn Lynch of the National Yacht Club and Ewan McMahon of Howth Yacht Club.

The pair have both won Youth World Championship silver medals on home waters.

Lynch took silver at the 2012 World Sailing Youth Championships on Dublin Bay before progressing to the senior ranks, where he won silver at the 2021 ILCA 7 Men’s World Championship in Barcelona.

McMahon claimed his Youth World silver medal at the 2016 Laser Radial Youth World Championships in Dún Laoghaire. Both have shown strong form this season, although Lynch’s has been disrupted by illness.

The magnitude of this event to the sailing community here can’t be underestimated.

World number one Pavlos Kontides of Cyprus, a two-time world champion and double Olympic silver medallist, will be in the field. So will double, and reigning, Olympic champion Matt Wearn of Australia.

The value of an event that allows young Irish kids to witness and maybe even get the opportunity to meet some of these elite talents is obvious and shows again that Ireland can target a wide range of major international events.

In and around one hundred volunteers from this country and from overseas will support the regatta on and off shore. The latest race-start and course-setting technology is being operated to the highest of standards and Annalise Murphy is on co-commentary duties.

Sailing is a sport that finds it difficult to impact the wider sporting consciousness. Murphy’s efforts at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, winning silver at the latter, still serve as a peak for its imprint in that regard, but impact is measured in various ways.

When that sport event strategy was launched in 20024, then Minister for Sport Catherine Murphy zeroed in on the benefits that can stem from them.

“Sport-related tourism is a very significant element of world tourism,” she said, “with a multi-million euro market and a huge potential for countries who position themselves correctly.

“Major international sports events provide a unique opportunity to highlight the island of Ireland as a wonderful holiday destination, as well as a top location for sporting events.”