Rio-bound golden girls Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark were victorious on the final day of World Cup racing in Hyeres as Britain’s sailors also bagged a silver and two bronze medals in one of the final events before the Olympic Games.
The 2012 world champions sat in second coming into Sunday’s 470 Women’s race just a point behind leaders France, but after New Zealand reined in the Brazilian team of Fernanda Oliviera and Ana Luisa Barbachan, the duo were able to capitalise on the Kiwis' work to win gold.
And with the pair aiming to convert their silver medal from London 2012 into more gold this summer, Sunday’s victory could not have come at a better time.
“It was exciting – it was absolutely freezing as well,” said Mills. “I think some English weather may have helped us today.
“It was really exciting and really tight, and all the top boats were right up there in the mix so it was a ‘who beats who’ scenario.
“We had our eyes on what was going on and we caught the Brazilians up quite a lot on the second beat, and once we saw that the Kiwis had definitely passed them, we relaxed a bit and really wanted to protect the French to make sure we got the win.”
Clark added: “It’s obviously great to come to any World Cup regatta and win it.
“For me and Hannah to convert a second into a first in the medal race shows we’re making progress, but we’ve still got progress to make.”
Beijing bronze medallist Bryony Shaw struck silver in the RS:X women’s windsurfing event after being guaranteed a podium finish heading into the final day of racing.
She finished third in the medal race to consolidate her second place finish, but admits she has been frustrated with her performances on the water in France.
“It’s been a tough week with just little mistakes here and there that haven’t really shown my form in the results,” she said.
“But I finished third in the medal race and second overall so that’s a good result, but I’ve had some little frustrations in my own sailing this week.
“I’ll keep my head down and keep smiling, keep enjoying it and hopefully it will all come together in the summer.”
Nick Dempsey made it double bronze for Britain’s windsurfers in the men’s RS:X event despite not taking to the water on Sunday after adverse weather conditions prevented the race from taking place.
That meant the double Olympic medallist’s overall third place from Saturday’s racing stood, while Alison Young also secured bronze in the Laser Radial event.
It was a disappointing day however for Ben Saxton and Nicola Groves as they narrowly missed out on the medals in the Nacra 17 event to finish fourth, despite starting the race with the yellow leaders’ jerseys.
Sportsbeat 2016