Ireland's Finn Lynch finished eighth in the men’s dinghy medal race today, and 10th place overall, at the Olympics but said he "wanted one more crack" at the Games with his eye on Los Angeles in 2028.
The 28-year-old "was sailing for pride" and had no realistic chance of finishing on the podium after he had a false start in the final race before today’s medal race.
Sailing got under way this afternoon after a series of postponements today and over the last couple of days.
However, there was some drama at the starting line between the two main contenders for the gold medal, Australia and Cyprus.
Whistles, verbals, bumping could be seen and heard between the Cypriot and Australian sailors, but the Australian Matt Wearn got away clean with Cypriot Pavlos Kontides delayed.
Kontides needed to finish ahead of Wearn in order to take gold, but he was unable to overtake the Australian throughout the race.
It turned out to be a fourth laser class gold on the spin for Australia, and a second consecutive top spot for Wearn.
Kontides, who won the Mediterranean islands first ever medal in 2012, took silver, while Stefano Peschiera hung on to claim bronze for Peru.
Lynch was eighth on the day, coming in ahead of Peschiera and the British sailor.
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Speaking after the medal race, he admitted it had been a difficult week for him in Marseilles where the event took place but added he "wanted one more crack at it".
"Halfway through it wasn’t looking so hot, I was 25th and we had to rearrange my goals a little bit and then the goal was to make it into the top 10 so I’m happy with how I bounced back during the week," he said.
"Obviously, I wanted to be a bit higher up but happy with how I could fight to make it into the medal race."
Sailing conditions were very difficult in Marseilles during the event, with low wind speeds causing there to be multiple postponements and rearrangements.
"I’m happy with how I could end the Olympic cycle and the Olympics sailing well. I wasn’t sailing well at the start of the regatta, but the Olympics is a crazy event and people can shoot up and down the leaderboard like not any other event.
"I knew if I kept my head down and just tried my best until the very, very end that it could come good and that was finishing 10th," Lynch said.
With an eye on the next summer Olympic Games that are due to be held in Los Angeles in 2028, Lynch said if he can perform to his best over the course of the event he can challenge for a medal.
"I think if I can put a whole week together then I can be up near the pointy end. So, 80% I’ll keep going."
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