Langkawi, Malaysia, Douglas Elmes and Colin O’Sullivan secured a
Bronze medal at the Youth World Sailing Championships. It caps off
another remarkable year in Irish sailing. Irish sailors, in recent years
have become accustomed to standing on the podium at this prestigious
event. The Howth duo’s medal is Ireland’s third in four years – it is
however the first medal achieved in a two person boat since Laura
Dillion and Ciara Peelo achieved the feat in 1996.
The Howth Yacht Club team held off a much fancied Australian pairing
to finish a point ahead and take the Bronze medal for Ireland. The pair
started the week brightly, claiming a number of top 10 finishes,
including a first place on day two. With mixed conditions on the race
course, skills were truly tested. All week Elmes and O’Sullivan
progressively climbed the leaderboard to secure third place heading into
the final day’s racing. After a tense final race where the Aussies
mounted a strong challenge, ultimately the boys were not going to be
denied their podium position.
In addition to the 420 success, Irish sailors Aisling Keller and Liam
Glynn had excellent results in the stiffest of competitions. In the
Girls Laser Radial class, Lough Derg’s Keller finished strongly to earn a
10th place overall – the best result in a generation of youth females.
Glynn finished the event strongly and jumped back into the top 15.
The Irish Sailing Association’s Performance Director, James
O’Callaghan commented on their result: “2015 has been a fantastic year
for Irish Youth sailing. Doug and Colin’s result is the standout of many
great performances. Success at the Youth Worlds is rare and with the
largest fleet ever to compete, this year’s championships were tougher
than ever.”
Following this result, Elmes & O’Sullivan’s 420 coach, and former
Olympian Ross Killian described the path to their success: “Doug and
Colin have been working really hard for the last 2 years to podium at
this regatta. The last few months have been particularly challenging
from a training point of view with all the storms at home, but at every
opportunity the guys were on the water. This really paid off this week,
where they showed great control on the water at the most challenging and
unique of all youth regattas.”