Ellie Aldridge burnished her reputation with bronze and led a brilliant British team performance at the Formula Kite World Championships.
The Poole-born rider excelled in Sardinia to add to the world silver medal she won last year and two bronze medals already bagged at global level in 2022.
Aldridge is firmly at the head of the fleet in the boat class that will debut at Paris 2024.
“I’m really happy to be up in third place at the Worlds,” said Aldridge.
“The first day wasn’t very good for me and I was a bit worried that it just wasn’t going to be my week, so I’m proud to have climbed back up despite a wobbly start.
“It was a shame I was too far away from the top two to really pressure them and push for the top spot, but we’ll get there.”
Britain were the strongest nation at the event staged in Poette, Cagliari.
Katie Dabson came fourth, a personal best finish, and Maddy Anderson finished well in seventh.
Dabson said: “It’s awesome to see all the hard work we’ve all put in this year paying off, and I’m excited to keep the momentum going into training over the winter.”
Gold was won by Daniela Moroz, her sixth world title, making the American clear ante-post favourite for gold in Paris.
Aldridge said: “It’s pretty easy to motivate yourself when you can see what you’re chasing. The motivation is to catch Daniela, for sure.
“She’s been the best for a while now but we’re definitely getting closer to reeling her in. The standard has improved a lot across the board and it’s not inevitable she’ll win now.”
When the fast and furious class became Olympic, there were only one or two women in Britain and a handful across the world who raced competitively.
Aldridge was syphoned from a skiff background into the new discipline and now feels at home in a unique fleet.
She said: “We’re definitely on the margins and the class is still getting used to what it takes to compete for Olympic medals.
“We’re probably the rebellious cousin of the lot and we get quite a lot of freedom because we’re not based in the same place as the other classes. Some of the thinking is pretty different.
“But we benefit from all of the support that comes with the British Sailing Team and we’re one of the countries, along with France, who are really pushing it on.
“It’s really cool to be one of the first women to do this full-time. There is no rulebook and we’re all coming to this pretty fresh, no-one is very far ahead of each other.”
Next up for Britain’s sailors is the World Championships in IQFoil, the other all-new boat class for the next Olympics.
Sportsbeat 2022