Murphy excels to keep Olympic dream alive

Daire Walsh

Rathfarnham sailor Annalise Murphy produced a brace of superb performances earlier today to move within touching distance of a spot in Sunday’s Laser Radial medal race.

Having achieved top ten finishes in race five and six of this division on Tuesday, the 31-year-old was hopeful of continuing on an upward curve.

She took another giant leap forward by winning race seven in Fujisawa and subsequently claimed second place in race eight to enhance her overall prospects in this event.

Currently 14th in the Laser Radial rankings, Murphy needs to break into the top ten in order to progress through to Sunday’s grand showpiece.

She is just 14 points off making the cut and while it is easier said than done, a repeat of today’s heroics in race nine and ten tomorrow would go a long way towards extending her stay at the Tokyo Olympics.

After initially slipping to 32nd on Monday in the Japanese capital, Murphy was in a buoyant mood as a result of her improved displays on the following day.

Any fears that a period of rest on Wednesday could halt her momentum were quickly dispelled as she moved clear at the end of race seven’s opening leg.

She was 31 seconds ahead of Denmark’s Anne-Marie Rindom at this point and although the 2016 bronze medallist closed the gap to 11 seconds heading into the third leg, Murphy maintained her iron grip on pole position.

Crossing the finishing line in a time of 51:53, she threw down the gauntlet to her fellow competitors.

Scaling the same heights in race eight was always going to be a big ask, but it was Murphy and Rindom who once again led the way.

The roles were reversed on this occasion as Rindom came home in first, but having moved into the runners-up spot at the end of leg three, the UCD graduate held this position – finishing just 11 seconds behind Rindom.

Both Murphy and her Danish counterpart were on the podium in Rio de Janeiro five years ago and appear to be hitting their peak form at precisely the right time.