London 2012 silver medallist Bouwmeester led the Laser Radial standings by 10 points overnight and knew a fourth place or better would see her claim back the world title she last won in Perth in 2011.

Belgian Evi Van Acker began the day lying fourth and she began today's final race with intent, rounding the first mark 20 seconds ahead of the Ducthwoman.

France's Mathilde de Kerangat and Alison Young of Great Britain were keeping pace with Van Acker, as was Croatian Tina Mihelic, who eventually managed to wrestle her way into the lead and take the race win.

Van Acker hit some trouble and dropped back to eighth, which was eventually enough to take the bronze medal, while Bouwmeester stayed out of trouble and was sitting in fourth before moving up to eventually finish third and claim the world title ahead of Sweden's Josefin Olsson.

"I am really happy to come away with a win," said Bouwmeester.

"I had a good start with a good back swell.

"It was kind of tricky on the first upwind.

"I was happy with my second upwind.

"I tried to defend a little watching the girls on the left but it was tricky.

"The back swell was awesome."

Australian Tom Burton began the day in pole position in the Laser class, but Heiner put in a superb display on the Spanish coast navigating his way to the front of the pack on the final downwind run and powering his way to the line and World Championship glory.

A seventh place meant Burton had to settle for silver as bronze went to Britain's Nick Thompson.

"When I went round the downwind mark I look around and pretty sure the next shift was coming from the right," said the Dutchman.

"I found a nice set of waves on the right with some pressure and then pretty much planed up wind for half of the beat.

"It was awesome."

Meanwhile, Charline Picon was the third sailor on the day to be crowned world champion, despite one race left to go in the women's RS:X class.

Despite not registering a win in today's racing, a second and third was enough to give the Frenchwoman an unassailable lead going into tomorrow's gold medal race, while Spain's Marina Alabau picked a win to move up to second overall ahead of Israel's Maayan Davidovich.

Charline Picon of France has won the women's RS:X world title with a day to spare
©Getty Images



A disastrous day for Poland's Zofia Klepacka saw her drop from second to 10th on the standings.

In the men's RS:X, Picon's compatriot Julien Bontemps raced to a win and two fourths to hold a commanding 15-point lead going into tomorrow's deciding race ahead of Poland's Piotr Myszka and Przemyslaw Miarczynski, who sit in the silver and bronze medal positions respectively.

Danish duo Ida Marie Baad Nielsen and Marie Thusgaard Olsen racked up two race wins today to lead the women's 49erFX standings by 10 points ahead of Brazil's Martine Soffiatti Graela and Kahena Kunze, with Italians Giulia Conti and Francesca Clapcich lying third overall.

A 25-point lead has New Zealand's Peter Burling and Blair Tuke in pole position to win another World Championship title in the men's 49er as they dominated the day's racing taking two wins, with Australia's Nico Dell Karth and Nikolaus Resch and Denmark's Jonas Warrer and Anders Thomsen leading the chasing pack.

Giles Scott of Britain extended his lead to 13 points after another solid day in the Finn class, with Jonathan Lobert of France and Croatian Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic second and third respectively.

After missing out on a day's racing yesterday, French duo Billy Besson and Marie Riou made up for lost time in the Nacra 17 class, powering to a win and two second places in their three outings to top the standings.

Switzerland's Matias Buhler and Nathalie Brugger are second followed by British duo Pippa Wilson and John Gimson.

In the men's 470 class, Australians Matthew Belcher and Will Ryan finally got their Championships in gear and raced their way to two wins to take control of the leaderboard, while Austrian duo Lara Vadlau and Jolanta Ogar registered a win to lead the women's 470 standings.

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