Irish sailors California dreaming of LA Olympics
· Yahoo Sports
Erin McIlwaine and Ellen Barbour are just a pair of 22 year-olds with Hollywood dreams.
Their ambitions don't include the Oscars. Instead, they're fixed on the Olympics and trying to qualify for the Los Angeles Games in 2028.
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"We're very much forward planners and, of course, the Olympics is always in the back of our minds," McIlwaine tells BBC Sport NI at one of their training sessions in Dun Laoghaire just outside of Dublin.
"That's the big goal that we're always working towards, but I think we are able to kind of separate it, and just think about it on a day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month sort of basis."
And the pair are a united front on that. While reaching Los Angeles is the aim, there is a journey ahead.
"We need to start performing this year because next year is the year that we try to qualify," added Barbour.
"There's always a bit of thought about LA in the background, but I think we are quite good at keeping each other focused day-to-day and week-to-week."
McIlwaine is from Kilkeel in County Down while Barbour comes from Whitehead in County Antrim and their partnership only came together in March 2024.
They have known each other since their early teens, training and competing as part of the RYA Northern Ireland Sailing Academy.
However, both sailed with different partners before finding themselves solo at the same time.
They were also studying physiotherapy at Trinity College, Dublin together so forming a partnership seemed like the obvious move.
"It was like right timing, right place," explained Barbour.
"We were both on the same course in college so it kind of made sense and we were both putting the same level of commitment into it so two years ago we decided to sail together, and ever since it's kind of been going from strength to strength."
McIlwaine and Barbour compete in the 49er FX class, a double-handed high-performance sailing dinghy.
They each have different roles within the boat. McIlwaine is the 'helm' and she makes many of the tactical decisions as well as steering, with Barbour, the 'crew,' doing most of the sail control.
Despite it being a relatively new pairing, the duo took a bronze medal at last year's Under-23 World Championships before making an impressive debut at the Senior World Championships, winning a race and showing they were ready to make that step up permanently.
Promoted to senior squad
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.