Annalise Murphy says she is satisfied with her performance with the final preliminaries of the Women’s Laser Radial as she will start Monday’s Medal Race in third position.
The Dubliner began the day in third and remains in the same position ahead of Monday’s Medal Race following a battling finish in windy conditions in Brazil.
Murphy admitted Race 9 was “up and down”, struggling in the second upwind leg before finishing six as Belgium’s Evi Van Ecker crossed the line in first.
In Race 10, the final preliminary, the Dun Laoghaire sailor made a strong start and was third at the third marker, but then struggled to make headway in the conditions.
She dropped to 12th at one point before battling back to claim seventh and cement her third place overall.
“I was happy enough with today,” she told RTÉ Sport.
“I made a few mistakes in the second race where I lost a few places. I was a bit frustrated by it, but overall I’m happy and in the running for the Medal Race.
“I’m going to go home tonight, debrief and then make a plan for what we’re going to do Monday.”
Marit Bouwmeester leads the standings, followed by Denmark’s Anne-Marie Rindom and Murphy in third, nine points clear of Van Acker in fourth.
Murphy will claim a bronze medal unless she finishes five places or more behind behind Van Ecker and must finish ahead of Rindom to claim silver.
Gold will be secured if she finishes ahead of Van Ecker and at least five places ahead of Bouwmeester.
Hoping to improve on her fourth-place showing at the London Games four years ago. Murphy stands on 57 points with the lowest tally claiming gold.
Double points will be on offer for the Medal Race, which begins at 5.05pm Irish time.
Murphy admitted that the support of family and friend has been a huge help on the water.
“It’s amazing. I could see them all with the Irish flags going mental on the beach. My family are so supportive of me. My mum and my brother and sister are out here cheering me on.
“It’s incredible.”
In a busy day for Team Ireland sailors, Ryan Seaton and Matthew McGovern continue their fine start to the Men’s 49er and lie in fourth place overall at the halfway stage.
The Irish pair won Race 4 and followed that up with 14th and 19th place finishes with the highly fancied New Zealand team of Peter Burling and Blair Tuke leading the way.
The early victory, where they had 11 seconds to spare over the Kiwi pair, was the highlight of the day as they temporarily moved into second in the standings.
Race 5 and 6 saw them drop to fourth and with 54 points have tallied six points more than the Danish pair of Jonas Warrer and Christian Peter Lubeck in the third.
Saskia Tidey and Andrea Brewster finished Race 6 of the 49er FX in 14th place and now sit 12th overall at the half-way stage.
Finn Lynch’s Olympic Games came to an end in the final sailing race of the day after the Irishman was given a BFD (Black Flag Disqualification) and finished in 32nd overall, bowing out of the competition before the Medal Race.
