Annalise Murphy Wins Gold at Garda Olympic Week in Italy for Second Consecutive Year

Annalise Murphy; Ireland's Olympic sailor from Providence Team IRL has this afternoon (Sunday 11 May) won Gold and retained her Eurosaf crown at the Vela Garda Trentino, Italian Olympic Week on Lake Garda.

Having won five of the eight races throughout the week in shifty 10-20 knot breezes on Lake Garda, Annalise Murphy was a clear 16 points ahead of Italian Silvia Zennaro going in to the Medal Race. The only threat to Murphy's medal winning opportunity in today's race was the Italian but Murphy made sure she could not be overhauled by engaging her on the start line. Murphy went on to finish 6th and secure the 2014 title.

The medal races were cancelled today for the 49er class after drama on the lake yesterday for the skiff classes with a number of high profile crashes in high winds. Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern were sailing in this regatta fresh from their Silver medal win in France two weeks ago. The pair will regret the opportunity to medal twice in as many weeks but a boat handling error while leading one of the races yesterday saw them drop off the podium. It was unfortunate that the medal races were cancelled today preventing the boys from clawing back a podium position however regatta organisers were unwilling to take a risk following yesterday's drama.

In the ladies skiff class 49erFX, Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey made more progress this week but a crash yesterday put paid to a stronger performance at the regatta. Luckily a suspected broken arm for Saskia Tidey turned out to be heavy bruising following a crash in yesterday's high winds.

Commenting on the team's performance this week, ISA Performance Director James O'Callaghan remarked "For the second time in a fortnight the team is returning home from an international regatta with a medal. In France it was the 49er boys Ryan and Matt this time it's Annalise. This reflects well on the progress being made towards Santander which is the first opportunity for Olympic qualification for Rio 2016".

The next major regatta for Providence Team IRL is the Eurosaf Delta Lloyd regatta in Holland from 20-24 May 2014.