Hopkins Impressive Performance In Aarhus

There is no denying that a race victory in an Olympic class world championship is a big reason that calls for a celebration. A 19 year old from Howth named Aoife Hopkins qualified in the Laser Radial in the Gold fleet at the Hampel Sailing World Championship in Aarhus in Denmark this week. It was indeed a big achievement for her. It made her obtain rich experience in 56-boat division that comes with senior talent that decides the eligibility level of multiple champions and Olympic medalists. Reaching a 44^th place was confirmation on how hard a task race in the Gold fleet can be.

However, when Hopkins hit the beginning line of single race and nailed at the right time, she was qualified as the race leader in no time. It was indeed a tricky condition as far as weather is concerned, but Hopkins made it to victory. She continued making decisions which were consistent and eventually made her lead the fleet at each mark. Towards the end, Hopkins was successful in extending a lead of 20 seconds over Silvia Zennaro from Italy. 31^st August was the last day for Gold Fleet series, but reserve day of today will have 2 more races coming up.

Hopkins standing did improve quite a bit and this is due to her first place. Her mission at the next chance would be to qualify Ireland for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. There would be around 40 percent of event places given away to nations, depending on the performances and Hopkins will get her chance later. Her actual contender is Aisling Keller from Lough Derg and is a close competitor from past one year. However, she failed to defeat Hopkins in this event and is now taking part in the Silver fleet with 56 sailors. All in all, Hopkins performance was brilliant and she did make her country proud.