Stipanovic, making his first appearance since he came second behind Australia's Tom Burton at the Rio 2016 Games last month, sits at the summit of the standings on five points.

Italy’s Giovanni Coccoluto is just one adrift in second, while Britain's Lorenzo Brando Chiavarini is in third despite a mixed day, which yielded third and ninth-place results.

“I just want to sail my regatta and whatever comes will come,” the Italian said.

“He [Stipanovic] is one of the best sailors in the world and to get an Olympic medal is amazing, but I have to focus on my own regatta and there is still a long way to go.”

Dongshuang Zhang of China maintained her advantage in the laser radial as she claimed one victory and a discarded fourth, leaving her on a current score of three points.

Finland's Monika Mikkola, who struggled to come to terms with the current and wind yesterday, is still the Chinese sailor’s closest competitor on seven points, three ahead of Rubei Yuan, also of China.

The hosts enjoyed another successful outing on the water despite the continually varied conditions as China's Hao Lan and Chao Wang matched yesterday’s performance by securing first and second place finishes from the two races in the men’s 470.

Their display saw them end the second day of the event on four points, five in front of team-mates Liangdao Weng and Youjian Wen.

Jian Xiang and Jichang Wang leapt to third on the leaderboard by winning race two.

Chinese duo Mengxi Wei and Yani Xu were not quite able to replicate their day one results – where they emerged victorious from both races – although they did manage to pick up another win alongside a sixth-place result.

Hongmei Shi leads the way in the women's RS:X as she claimed two wins and a third place, which saw her move onto eight points, 11 less than nearest challenger and compatriot Xiaoqing Yu.

The race for the title is already hotting up in the men’s RS:X as China’s Chunzhuang Liu remains ahead of team-mate Mengfan Gao despite the latter scoring two wins and a second.

Chunzhuang, who picked up a victory and a third place before discarding his fifth, has nine points, while Mengfan trails on 12.

In the Finn class, the Chinese success continued as Lei Gong had a perfect day with two bullets from the two races.

That gave him a total of three points, with He Chen of China - second to Lie in both races – two behind on the overall standings.

Action in Qingdao continues tomorrow.