Malahide's David Burrows produced a bronze medal-winning performance at the Finn Gold Cup, the class world championships, that concluded in Rio de Janeiro yesterday.
Consistent sailing in a range of different wind conditions put the Malahide sailor in the leading bunch of the 54-boat fleet at the penultimate stage of the event, a position he was able to maintain in difficult and shifting conditions.
The event was won by Ben Ainslie of the UK, with Richard Clarke of Canada coming in second.
The result is the strongest ever performance by an Irish sailor in this heavy weight Olympic dinghy class. Burrows, who made his Olympic debut at the age of 18 in Atlanta, won two individual races in the Sydney 2000 Games, and yesterday's result will put him to the top of the Irish ranking ladder, for Athens.
ISA Olympic Manager Garrett Connolly said: "Irish Sailing is obviously delighted with David’s excellent performance in Rio. David’s approach to this Olympic season has been spot on so far. He focussed really well for this event. He has now shown the rest of the world what we in the ISA have known for some time that he means business in Athens."
Filed by Mark O'Neill-Cummins
