Lynch gearing up to make another push for Olympics after impressive run in 2024

Bennekerry sailor, Finn Lynch is relishing his return to the water in January as he gears up for the start of another four-year journey which, he hopes, will culminate in a return to the Olympic Games stage in Los Angeles in 2028.

The 28-year-old competitor certainly made his presence felt at this year’s Summer Games in Paris, bouncing back from a difficult start to make the cut for the Men’s Dinghy medal race, in which he took eighth place and an overall finish of 10th.

It was another very solid performance by Lynch, who at the outset of the year, had served up a ninth-place finish in the ILCA7 class World Championships in Adelaide that was quickly followed by a bronze medal win at the Europeans in Athens in February.

It marked him out for many, as a serious contender for the Paris Olympics, and, while a slow start in the Bay of Marseilles left him well down the field in 25th, he, nevertheless, demonstrated great tenacity to work his way back for a berth in the medal race.

It was a huge improvement on his 32nd-place finish in his Olympic debut in Rio back in 2016, yet Lynch was hoping for more in Paris and falling short of his own target there has only fuelled his desire to again represent his country in LA in four years time.

“2024 was a really big year for me,” Lynch told The Carlow Nationalist. “I got ninth at the Worlds and third in the Europeans and I managed to make the medal race in the Olympics.

“But there was still a bit of a sour taste after Paris, because I felt like I didn’t sail my best regatta.

“As Olympic athletes, we live our lives in four-year cycles and we have to perform on one week every four years if you want to be successful as an Olympic athlete, so peaking at the right moment is a really hard thing to do.

“I did have a dip in form after the Worlds and Europeans this year. There were events in the Spring in Europe where I didn’t sail well.

“I suppose that was to be expected. Having had such a high after winning the Olympic trials and winning a European medal, there was always likely to be a bit of a lull after.

“My confidence took a bit of a hit there, which, looking back, was something that I probably should have seen coming.

“So, the lead-in to the Olympics wasn’t ideal, but I did everything that I could in the lead up to the event, and to be in an Olympic medal race was great.

“We sailed five days in the Olympics due to the weather, and for basically half the regatta I was sailing at a medal-winning standard, but I was a bit slow out of the blocks.

“I had a bad first two days, and if I had held my form for the whole week, it would have been a different story.

“I know I can do better. I’ve medalled at World and Europeans before, so I just have one more big one to tick off and I’m going to give it another go. I’ll do another four years and try and go for LA 2028,” he said.

Lynch is heading into another important year that will likely see him back in some major internationals, including the World Championships in China in May followed by the Europeans in Sweden in August.

He will be looking to card his fourth top-ten finish on the global stage in five years, and possibly secure a podium spot just as he did in 2021 when he bagged silver in Barcelona.

His bronze in the Europeans this year has also underscored his potential for another serious medal push in Sweden this summer.

What’s more, Lynch also plans to head out to Los Angeles around June/July in order to get a feel for the conditions he is likely to face should he make the cut for the next Olympic Games.

Yet what makes 2025 that bit more interesting for the Bennekerry man is the fact that he will be heading back into the boat for the first time since competing in France this summer.

“I’m jumping back into the boat in January, but I haven’t sailed since the Olympics,” said Lynch.

“This is the first extended break I’ve had from the boat in ten years, since I left school, so it’ll be interesting to see how that goes.

“I think the break has been definitely good for me. After three Olympic campaigns, I think it would be a bit silly to just run straight into the next one.

“Sailing is such an experience-based sport, and all of that’s in the locker. It’ll take maybe a couple of months to get back the speed that I had at the Games, but the experience is there.

“I feel like I have huge purpose now to fulfill my potential and what better way to do that than at the Olympic Games. So, it’s eyes-forward to LA. I’m really looking forward to that,” he said.

The extended break after the Paris Olympics did afford Lynch the opportunity to embark in a major fundraising venture that saw him cycle the length of Ireland and back in aid of men’s health charity, Movember.

The six-day undertaking saw him raise just short of €6000 - a challenge he was pleased to embrace for a charity whose mission in tackling some of the biggest health issues facing men in Ireland and around the world, is something that resonates with Lynch himself.

“The post-Olympic blues is something that’s quite openly talked about,” he said. “After such a big high, there’s usually quite a lull and I experienced that a little bit after these Olympics.

“We had the homecoming to Ireland with the full Olympic team and there were thousands of people in Dublin City to welcome us home and then, all of a sudden, you’re just sitting on your couch, and it’s all over.

“It’s a really strange experience, but I guess athletes in the Irish Olympic team are quite lucky in that we have access to psychologists.

“Even in terms of performance, it’s very important for us to understand our thoughts and our emotions, so I feel really fortunate that I’ve had access to those supports throughout my career.

“I also understand that a lot of people don’t have access to those things and I was just thinking a little bit about how I could give back, and I thought that just raising awareness was probably something I could do, and that was the goal with the cycle.

“It’s the first time I had done something like this, although the long cycles is something that is not new to me.

“Sailing is an endurance sport. We race 12 races over six days at a World Championships and each race is an hour long. Being aerobically fit is very important, so we do lots of training on the bike.

“This was just a chance to use my fitness for a good cause. Movember is a really great charity and it’s not hard to get behind what they stand for.

“We don’t get chances to do these big adventures while competing during the season, so it was nice to be able to do that during a bit of down-time. I felt it was a big challenge for me, an opportunity for growth, and all for a great cause,” he smiled.