Murphy’s Olympic journey come to an end

Daire Walsh

She gave it her all, but Rathfarnham sailor Annalise Murphy just fell short in her quest for a place in the Laser Radial medal race on Sunday at the Tokyo Olympics.

After finishing 30th and 40th in today’s races – her ninth and 10th at these Summer Games – Murphy achieved an overall ranking of 18th.

That put her eight places behind what was required to advance to the showpiece event for the third Olympics in succession.

Given she finished fourth at the London Games in 2012 before securing a silver medal in Rio de Janeiro four years later, Murphy will of course be disappointed not to make the cut this weekend.

Nevertheless, it was due to a string of impressive performances on Tuesday and Thursday that the 31-year-old got herself in contention for the medal race.

Ninth and 10th in race five and six respectively on Tuesday, she subsequently won race seven in the early hours of yesterday morning Irish time and later claimed the runners-up spot in the second race of the day.

Raring to go in the Japanese capital, her race nine prospects were affected by a penalty that put her back several places in the pecking order.

In the end, she crossed the finishing line 29 spots behind eventual winner Marit Bouwmeester – the Netherlands sailor who won gold in this category at the 2016 Olympics.

This effectively left her with too much ground to cover for the remainder of the day and she ended her Olympics journey in a time of 53:42 in race 10.

Speaking to RTÉ Sport following the conclusion of her campaign, Murphy – who is returning to college to do an MBA in September – admitted she is unlikely to return for the 2024 Olympics and is potentially contemplating retirement.

If this to be the case, she can bow out with her head held high having shone on the greatest stage of all in her chosen field.