Ireland’s Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern have secured gold at the Princess Sofia regatta in Mallorca with a day to spare.
The 49er skiff class crew won the 15th and final race of the week to top the leaderboard in the 70-plus fleet.
Normally the top ten boats go forward to a medal race final to decide the podium, but Seaton and McGovern have a 27-point lead and cannot be beaten.
The pair from Ballyholme are still obliged to take part in the medal final but can finish in any place and still claim gold.
Seaton and McGovern have already qualified Ireland for the Rio 2016 Olympics and scored a top-ten result at the recent World Championships in Florida. Their next major event is the European Championships in May.
Meanwhile, their compatriots in the 49erFX women’s event finished the regatta with the best result of the week. In their first competitive regatta since an injury-enforced break, Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey had all top-ten results, including a third place and ended the regatta in 18th overall.
In the Laser class selection trial for the single Irish place at Rio 2016,
London 2012 veteran James Espey emerged best of the three contenders for the single Irish place at Rio when he placed 53rd overall
