The Coral Reef Yacht Club in Miami was the scene of a great day for Irish sailing as Max Treacy & Anthony Shanks clinched Ireland's qualification for the Star class at the 2008 Beijing Games with an excellent performance at the Star World Championships.
In a tense final round they knew they had to post a score to stay in contention and they kept their nerve to finish 26th and seal the spot for Ireland.
The day got for Irish competitors as Peter O'Leary & Stephen Milne, the youngest team at the championships, produced a breakthrough performance to win the final race.
The young Irishmen beat some of the world's finest sailors with a brilliant display that bodes well for the future.
Only for the broken mast in high winds on Tuesday the Cork man and his Bangor crewman would have secured a top-ten finish in their first senior world championship event.
Their performance was good enough in its own right to secure Ireland's Olympic spot in an excellent week for the Irish Star sailors.
Ireland will now be represented in four of the 11 categories at the 2008 Olympic Games: Star, Finn, Laser Radial and 470.
In the exciting sub-plot of Olympic qualification it was Switzerland, Croatia, Ireland and Austria who secured the much-coveted places.
Poland, Italy and Brazil secured the podium spots at the end of an exciting, highly competitive world championships.
