– Niall Kelly reports from Rio de Janeiro
ANNALISE MURPHY STAKED her claim as a genuine medal contender on a superb day of racing in the women’s laser radial class.
But, after agonisingly missing out on the final day in London four years ago, she warned that there is a lot of work still to be done.
Murphy finished fourth and seventh in treacherous conditions on Tuesday to move into second place overall behind defending Olympic champion Lijia Xu.
“It was a good day,” she said. “I made a few mistakes but I’m happy in the end. I was consistent.
“You always want to do things better when you’re up there, but yeah, happy enough.
With the venue here, I don’t think at any point you start thinking this is getting good and you’ve a chance. That won’t be until the last race.”
Xu leads the way on seven points after four races but the chasing pack are tightly bunched behind her with Murphy (12pts) a nose ahead of 2015 world champion Anne-Marie Rindom (13pts) and London silver medallist Marit Bouwmeester (14pts).
“I’m just happy that I’ve gotten two days over with but I’ve still got six races to go,” she added. “They’ll be on very different courses. We’re going to be outside the harbour with Atlantic swells so very different conditions and I don’t really know what to expect.
“So I’m just taking it one day at a time and if I keep being consistent, that’ll stand to me at the end of the week.”
The expected light winds at Marina da Gloria saw Murphy start the week as a medal outsider. Coming in under the radar took a lot of pressure off, and allowed her to focus on enjoying the competition.
“The last Olympics, it was my first, it was very exciting, but also quite stressful. I had been winning regattas before, just not at that sort of level.
I didn’t try to put pressure on myself here to come here and do something, I’ve had bad form the last couple of years so just wanted to come out here and enjoy it. That’s what I’m doing, just trying to have fun in every race and that has helped so far.
“I’ve spent a lot of days out here training, I know the venue very well, I’ve worked hard on trying to be as light as possible for this venue as it’s a lighter wind venue, and I’m just trying to be in good shape to come here.”
Racing continues this afternoon (5.05pm Irish time) before a rest day on Thursday.
