Olympics: Irish sailors Erin McIlwaine and Ellen Barbour California dreaming of 2028 Games

Those performances showed selectors that their pair were ready for the senior Irish sailing squad, and now they are preparing for the first Grand Slam regatta of the season, the Princess Sofia Trophy in Palma, Mallorca.

“Whenever we started sailing together, I guess we just clicked pretty quickly,” said McIlwaine.

“We know each other very well and we have done for a long time, and I think that’s helped a lot with the transition into being able to train hard and train a lot.

“I wouldn’t say that we were surprised at our results last year, but we were very, very happy to have achieved what we did, especially given how little time we’ve spent in the boat together.”

“I think it was after we got the medal at the under-23 Worlds that probably took the pressure off because we weren’t expecting to do as well,” added Barbour.

“We changed our perspective going into the Worlds and we were like, ‘let’s just learn as much as we can from this’.

“It was a big step up and it was a big eye-opener but it was a good learning experience, like how much more professional we need to be and how many hours we need to put into the boat and into our fitness.”

As Barbour took a gap year away from university, McIlwaine is now a year ahead and will graduate this summer but juggling studies and training can be tough especially now they are both senior athletes.

“After the senior worlds we saw how professional the top teams are and how much focus they put into the training session,” said Barbour.

“No matter what day of the week it is they’re always training the best that they can be and we saw how much time we need to actually commit to this if we want to get to the Olympics.”

The year ahead will be one of building into the senior ranks and becoming comfortable before the World Championships next year, where the majority of places for the LA Olympics will be won.

If McIlwaine and Barbour are to fulfil those California dreams of competing in the shadow of the Hollywood sign in 2028, the chase starts now.