Name: Finn Lynch
Event: Sailing: ILCA 7 (Dinghy)
Age: 28
Finn Lynch is back on the Olympic stage after missing out on qualification for Tokyo. Lynch secured qualification in the national trial seeing off Ewan McMahon with one regatta to spare, for the ILCA nation spot.
Lynch finished 32nd in Rio at 20 years old and has been sailing since he was eight, despite living in one of Ireland's land-locked counties.
Ranked seventh on the Olympic rankings, Lynch is Ireland's most realistic medal prospect in the sailing events after finishing second in the ILCA 7 World Championships in 2021 following Tokyo disappointment. He backed up this performance with a ninth place at Europeans in the same year. In 2022 he was sixth at the Worlds and rose to number two in the world rankings.
"When I didn't qualify for Tokyo, the worlds that year were in November so I took a month or two off and then I said, 'let's give the worlds a good go, and if I enjoy it I will keep going for Paris'. I got a medal at those worlds so things became a lot easier after that, and I really enjoyed it so I said 'OK, let's give it another go'," Lynch told RTÉ sport last month.
"That kind of helped me not be scared of losing and just be able to race and enjoy it. That will be important to remind myself going into Marseille. I have a medal opportunity. If I sail my best I have a chance to get a medal I think. I just need to go there thinking what a great opportunity but even if I don't do it not much is going to change."
