Qualification hopes for the two Irish crews aiming for a place at the Tokyo Olympics now rest on the Sailing World Cup series in Genoa in April following the conclusion of the 49er World Championship in New Zealand.
World Under-23 bronze medalists Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove ended the Gold fleet series in 22nd place overall in their best ever performance at senior level.
Highlights of the week for the Dublin pair were winning the opening race in the qualification round and a day of top ten results in the Gold fleet.
"We're delighted because we put in a lot of hard work at the Irish Sailing Performance HQ in Dun Laoghaire before coming out here," said Waddilove. "This is a huge confidence boost, there's no reason we can't be back in the Gold fleet again."
Double-Olympic veteran Ryan Seaton with crew Séafra Guilfoyle didn't make the Gold fleet after losing out on a three-way tie-break on Thursday and sailed the remainder of the 17-race series in the Silver group.
"We're awfully disappointed with how our regatta turned out but very happy to see the young guys make Gold fleet," said Seaton.
"But we know what we have to work to improve and it's not boat-speed - more racing experience will allow us to develop roles and better communication between us; we need to stick to our processes on board."
Spain, Austria, The Netherlands and Poland took the four country qualification places available in New Zealand.
One remaining European country place will be decided in Genoa in April with Ireland, Belgium and Italy all likely to be leading contenders for the final place.
The Irish representative will be decided by whichever crew qualifies the country.
