Returning to where her story began

Preparing for the Olympic Games is a full-time commitment, and when an accomplished athlete makes the decision to end the effort, their “retirement” statement always feels awkward. Sailing isn’t a sport you need to retire from, particularly when your boat of choice is the ILCA.

This singlehander has fleets nearly everywhere, and when the 2026 ILCA 6 and 7 World Championship was to be held in her home country, Ireland’s Annalise Murphy made the decision to come out of retirement.

The Olympic medalist and the most decorated sailor her country has produced, stepped away after Tokyo 2020, closing out a three-Games career that included a fourth-place finish in London 2012 and that famous Rio 2016 silver.

Now 36 and a mother to a daughter born last December, she returns to where her story began on Dublin Bay in Dun Laoghaire.

Any doubt about her intentions was answered on the water: racing an ILCA for the first time in five years, Murphy dominated the 2026 Irish National Championship, opening a commanding lead that organizers and rivals alike read as a serious statement ahead of the Worlds.

Murphy’s return follows another multiple Olympic medalist as Croatia’s Tonči Stipanović — two-time Olympic silver medalist and five-time European champion — will be competing at the 2026 ILCA 7 Men’s Worlds.

August 25-30 – 2026 ILCA 7 Men’s World Championship
September 7-12 – 2026 ILCA 6 Women’s World Championship