After day 3 of the ISAF World Championships, and the end of the qualifying series NI sailors, Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern have secured a place for Ireland at the 2012 Olympics in August.  The pair needed to finish 14th Nation at the event and currently lie in 10th overall (7th Nation).

The final series in Gold fleet will now start; with only 14 nations qualified it is not possible for the duo to drop out of the qualification bracket.  Racing will continue with the top 10 battling out in the medal race on Sunday. Final team selection fo rthe Games will be made following the completion of Irish trials in 2012. Matt and Ryan are funded through the Athlete Investment Programme and supported by Sports Institute Northern Ireland.

RYANI Performance Manager, Richard Honeyford commented " this is a fantastic result for the team, who have put a lot of hard work in over the past year in particular - to qualify Ireland after day 3 is outstanding and well deserved".

James Espey continues his efforts in the Laser fleet, moving up to 63rd today after a Black Flag on day 2 - a 3rd place today helped move him back into contention.  He will battle out the remainder of the Championship in the Silver fleet and still has the opportunity to secure a place for Ireland in the Laser fleet.

Update 19th December

Following medal race qualification after Saturday's racing, Matt and Ryan finished in 10th place overall at the 49er World Championships, putting a marker down for their campaign coming into 2012.  The selection trials continue into the New Year, but this was the main target for 2011 - qualifying Ireland was achieved early in the regatta, which mean't the team could focus on moving up the leader board.

Following a bad final day, James Espey will have to look the World Championships in 2012, where there is a second opportunity to qualify the Nation for the Games later in the year.  James hasd sat in qualification position throughout the regatta but sadly missed out on this occasion.

For full results: www.perth2011.com

Event overview: http://www.sailing.org/matchdaytv/ 

Matt and Ryan lead up to Perth: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/northern_ireland/16200703.stm 

Picture credit: onEdition