Annalise wins gold at Italian Olympic Week 2013 in Lake Garda

Annalise Murphy won Gold today at the Italian Olympic Week 2013 on Lake Garda. She was sailed down the fleet on the first beat but caught the leaders on the first run and led the race from there in steady conditions.

The 23 year old from Rathfarnham went in to the medal race as favourite, four points ahead of the leaderboard despite very mixed conditions yesterday which saw her finishing the qualifying rounds with a 29th and 7th having won 6 of the previous nine races.

Commenting on today's win ISA Performance Director James O'Callaghan said ' 'Today's win sees a return to form for Annalise and payback for her training during the winter months. This win will boost her confidence for the target events later in the season including the Laser European Championships which will be held in Dun Laoghaire in September.'

Italian Olympic Week is the first regatta in the Eurosaf series. In total five regattas will be sailed over the summer months with the next regatta, Delta Lloyd starting in just eight days in the Netherlands on 21 May, followed by Sail for Gold in Weymouth and Kieler Woche in June and finally Semaine Olympique Francaise in la Rochelle in the autumn.

A new format for the medal race was trialed this week at Italian Olympic Week whereby the fleet is divided in to Gold and Silver after two days with the top six boats in the Gold fleet progressing to the Medal Race on the final day. This new format will be officially adopted for Rio 2016.