British windsurfer Nick Dempsey surged into medal contention in the men’s mistral this morning with victory in race nine to move within 11 points of Gal Fridman, the competition leader.
Although Dempsey remains in fourth place, his second victory of the competition ensured he closed the gap on Fridman from 18 points with two races remaining.
Dempsey finished 16 seconds ahead of Przemyslaw Miarczynski, of Poland, and moved just ten points behind second-placed Brazilian Ricardo Santos. He is eight points from bronze medal position, currently occupied by Greek hero Nikolaos Kaklamanakis, the man who lit the Olympic flame at the opening ceremony.
Miarczynski remained just behind Dempsey, in fifth place.
Advertisement
Meanwhile, Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks, competing in the open 49ers for Great Britain, are currently sitting in equal second after the completion of race 12.
The pair finished second in race 11, which placed them third overall, however, a disastrous race 12 for then leaders, Ukraine, plus another solid finish of fourth for Draper and Hiscocks, promoted Spain into pole position and left Great Britain and Ukraine tied for second.
Unstable winds out on the Saronic Gulf delayed the start of the mistral but once he was out on the water, Dempsey was in determined form.
The 24-year-old only slipped from the lead once, when New Zealander Tom Ashley moved ahead at the second marker, but Dempsey regained control of the race immediately and set up a fascinating race ten this afternoon.
What could prove to be the deciding race 11 is scheduled for tomorrow.
Advertisement
In the tornado, Leigh McMillan and Mark Bulkeley were stung by an ill-timed wind shift that dropped them back down the field.
Lying in third place at halfway they slipped down the fleet and eventually came home seventh.
It still represented their best result of the competition thus far and leap-frogged them into 14th place above Sweden.
In their second race of the day, the sixth of the competition, McMillan and Bulkeley were never in the hunt and trailed home in 14th place, seven minutes, 43 seconds behind the Russian winners.
They remained 14th in the overall standings but lost further ground on the crew immediately above them, Oskar Johansson and John Curtis from Canada.
Advertisement
In the star class, Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell finished sixth in the fifth Star class race, to sit ninth overall in the competition.
Percy, the Olympic Finn champion from Sydney 2000, and Mitchell, had looked well placed after rounding mark two in second place, comfortably ahead of all the crews immediately above them in the standings.
They remained in contention for the next two marks, in fourth and then third, before dropping over a minute behind the leaders on leg five to round the mark in eighth place.
A minor recovery took them past the Dutch, and in a late flurry of activity they came through in sixth spot.
They were still able to pick up points on both Spain and France but it was not the result the British team would have been looking for as they need to start closing on competition leaders, Brazil.
Advertisement
They finished in second place and have 15 points overall, just ahead of race winners Canada on eight.
In the women’s mistral, Natasha Sturges finished 15th, the worst possible result given she has already discarded a 16th place from her record, and now lies 11th overall with two races remaining.