Murphy in the mix after first day of Laser Radial

Daire Walsh

Following an intense opening day of sailing in Enoshima, Rathfarnham’s Annalise Murphy finds herself ranked 23rd out of 43 in the Laser Radial class at the Tokyo Olympics.

A silver medallist in this event at the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro five years ago, Murphy is back in familiar territory having initially tried her hand at the high-speed 49erFX category with Katie Tingle on the road to the Japanese capital.

Joining her on the podium for the 2016 Olympics were Marit Bouwmeester of the Netherlands and Denmark’s Anne-Marie Rindom.

The latter was the best performer amongst this triumvirate in race one of the Laser Radial – held at 4.05am Irish time – placing sixth overall out of a field of 44.

Whereas Bouwmeester finished 21st, Murphy was a further 14 places behind her. The 31-year-old was 32nd after the third leg of the race before tailing off slightly coming down the home stretch.

Of course, with a grand total of 11 races to negotiate during Murphy’s time in Tokyo, the Laser Radial is a marathon rather than a sprint.

Still, the UCD graduate was eager for an improved showing in today’s second race and she certainly managed that.

Despite having to contend with tricky conditions, Murphy crossed the finishing line in an impressive 12th place. 28th and 27th at the end of the first and second legs respectively, she subsequently shot up to 14th place and proceeded to keep herself in the higher echelons of the race rankings.

Given the substantial growth in performance between her first and second races, Murphy can feel satisfied that she is heading in the right direction.

She will be back out again for another brace of races tomorrow – taking place at 6.35am and 7.50am Irish time respectively.

She will be doing likewise on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, in advance of next Sunday’s medal race at 7.33am Irish time.