The reality of qualifying for the Olympics and finishing among the top ten teams at last week’s 49er World Championships in Croatia hasn’t quite sunk in for sailing siblings Jesse and Zander Kirkland.The local duo far surpassed their own expectations by placing ninth in the 74-boat fleet just days after qualifying for the upcoming Games at the first attempt.“We can’t believe we are top ten in the world right now,” said elated crewman Zander. “We are drained from a stressful week of racing, the finish and the Olympics has not really sunk in.“This has been such a huge undertaking over the past two years that many thought would not be possible. But we just knew we could do it and also our core group of supporters knew we could.“Through all the tough times we just kept on persevering. The cool thing is that it is not over and we still have over 70 days to keep improving before the Games start.”The Kirklands made history in becoming the first local Skiff sailors to qualify for the Olympics and also reached the medal race for the first time sailing at this level against the world’s elite.They also captured their first two wins and managed ten top ten finishes at the championships that kept their medal hopes alive right up to the final day of racing off the shores of the Sailing Club Uskok.Zander owes much of the team’s recent success to the expert advice of coach and multiple Olympic medallist Ramon Oliden of Argentina.“A big shout out to our coach Ramon who has been instrumental in our jump to the top with his insightful nuances of the 49er and skiff tactics,” he said. “Ramon is a world class coach who has a proven track record and a good eye for little things that make a big difference.”The Kirklands sailed into unchartered waters after reaching the medal race. And even though they did so, cautiously optimistic off pulling off what might have seemed the impossible a few months earlier, their task was always going to be an uphill climb having already made their two allocated drops.They eventually had to settle for 14th and 23rd in the last two races in the Gold fleet final and ninth in the medal race competing in light and tricky breezes.“The wind was real light for the two final Gold fleet races and then the medal race was tricky,” Zander said. “The wind tucked up under the shoreline next to the spectators where there were seven dedicated Bermudians in the crowd.“The sailing didn’t go so great but we did enough to make it to the medal race. It was tricky starting defensively when we knew we already had that black flag to count.“In the light airs it was hard to catch up after tough starts. But you live and learn and survive to fight another day.”Defending champions Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen of Australia made history by winning for an unprecedented fourth time. New Zealand’s Peter Burling and Blair Tuke finished second and Denmark’s Allan Norregaard and Peter Lang third.