BOOM OR BUST!

We're liking cut of McMahon's jib as Irish champ navigates choppy waters in a bid to add to a growing medal collection

- Michael SCULLY

IT'S a grey, cold Monday in Dun Laoghaire but the heat is rising in the harbour as Ireland's elite sailors get into it.

There are few observers to what's happening on an ordinary May weekday but that doesn't dilute the competitive nature of what's happening on the water.

Back home after making history in China by becoming Irish Sailing's first World Championship bronze medal winner, Eve McMahon is part of a group of six fighting to manoeuvre around the halfway mark in first place in the second of three races leading into a medal race.

The 21-year-old overcooks the turn and her dinghy overturns, and can only wait for her friends and rivals to speed past before she rights the vessel and is on her way again.

It's all part of pushing the envelope, why she has already been so successful.

Frustration for such a ferocious competitor but this day and this race is not her real focus.

Already twice a world champion at under-21 level, everything she does now is part of her preparation for LA 2028 and her second Olympics.

For now, she is still coming to terms with her achievement in China.