The Danish duo opened up by taking victory in their first outing and followed that up with a second place finish in race two to top the leaderboard.

Racing in the blue fleet, Nielsen and Olsen recorded a fifth in their third race which also saw wins for Great Britain's Kate McGregor and Katrina Best and French pair Sarah Steyaert and Julie Bossard.

A ninth place finish in race three has the British duo lying fourth in the overall standings behind crews from Italy and Spain.

Giulia Conti and Francesca Clapcich recorded a fourth and a third to sit second overall, ahead of home favourites Tamara Echegoyen and Berta Betanzos who registered best finishes of fifth and third in their outings.

There were also wins for Brazil's Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze and Leonie Meyer and Elena Christine Stoffers of Germany in the yellow fleet, who were unable to complete a third race.

It was the turn of the blue fleet to swing into action in the 49er class and Peter Burling and Blair Tuke of New Zealand demonstrated their intent as they immediately usurped overnight leaders Nico Delle Karth and Nikolaus Resch with a win in race one and fourth in race two.

A second and fifth has Stefano Cherin and Andrea Tesei of Italy lying in the bronze medal position.

Blair Tuke and Peter Burling lead the way in the 49er standings in Santander ©Getty Images



The qualification series in the women's 470 class came to a close with Britain's Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark leading the standings after recording a win in race three followed by a third to keep ahead of Austria's Lara Vadlau and Jola Ogar and French pair Maelenn Lematire and Aloise Retornaz.

Overnight leaders Lematire and Retornaz could only manage a best of eighth to drop back to the bronze medal place, while Vadlau and Ogar moved up into contention with an impressive win.

There were only three races possible across the two fleets in the men's 470 class as a lack of winds once again caused disruption on the Spanish coast.

Nonetheless, American duo Stuart McNay and David Hughes secured their second win of the Championships to lead the class overall, while there were also wins for Spanish duo Onan Barreiros and Juan Curbelo, and Greece's Mantis Panagiotis and Pavlos Kagialis who sit in third place.

A consistent day on the water has Croatia's Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic lying second, while defending champions Mat Belchar and William Ryan endured a frustrating day as they were disqualified in their final outing to leave them well off the pace in 11th.

"It has been pretty hard, really shifty and really variable," complained 2012 Olympic champion Mat Belcher.

"It is really hard to run a race in these conditions.

"I guess what was a bit disappointing today was in one race we were stopped for more than five minutes in just two knots of breeze."

The qualification series for the men's 470 is scheduled to conclude tomorrow.

Australians Mat Belcher and Will Ryan endured a frustrating day at the Sailing World Championships in Santander ©Getty Images



In the men's RS:X, Poland's Piotr Myszka and Frenchman Pierre le Coq took the race wins to continue to lead the way in that class.

Australia's Tom Burton has assumed control of the Laser leaderboard with a best finish of sixth, enough to see him leapfrog Dutchman Nicholas Heiner and Britain's Nick Thompson, while two race wins saw Germany's Philipp Buhl rocket up the standings to fifth.

Marit Bouwmeester remains in control in the Laser Radial class ahead of Czech Veronika Kozelska Fenclova and Sweden's Joesefin Olsson.

There were only two races completed on the first day of Finn competition, which saw Australian Oliver Tweddell and Giles Scott of Britain share the lead after both registering wins.

Meanwhile, reigning world champions Billy Besson and Marie Riou of France raced their way to two wins to lead the Nacra 17 class ahead of Mandy Mulder and Coen de Koning of The Netherlands, who registered a second and seventh.

A third and eighth place finish was enough to put Italian duo Lorenzo Bressani and Giovanna Micol in third place overall.

"Coming from behind to eighth gives us a lot of self-confidence," said Micol.

"This means we have the speed and power to sail in front of the fleet.

"Our goal is to be in the gold fleet, but this start of the event makes us very happy."

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