The Dutchman had begun the day three points adrift of Chunzhuang Liu, but the Chinese sailor dropped off the pace with scores of five and six being added to his tally, while a 23rd was discarded.

By contrast, van Rijsselberge is yet to finish outside the top four places so far at the regatta and a victory in the second race of the day helped move him into the lead on nine points.

He is expected to face a strong challenge in the final two days with Poland's Pawel Tarnowski, Britain’s Nick Dempsey, Liu and Canada’s Aichen Wang lying within five points of the Dutch sailor.

Van Rijsselberge’s compatriot Lilian de Geus is in control of the women’s RS:X class after recording first, second and fifth place finishes when their competition resumed following yesterday’s cancellations due to the lack of wind.

The results saw her move onto a total of four points, with Brazil’s Patricia Freitas occupying second position on eight.

Caleb Paine is chasing a Rio 2016 place, as well as World Cup success, with the event doubling as part of the American selection trials, and gave his prospects a boost as he moved onto 10 points in the men’s Finn class.

It has given him a narrow advantage over China’s Lei Gong and Australia’s Jake Lilley, who currently have totals of 11 and 12 respectively.

"I try to get into the mindset I know works for me and keep that repetition going,” said Paine.

“I still could improve on my starting, but for the most part it was all about just keeping your lane wide open and having the ability to make the right decisions instead of other people dictating it.

"Boat speed was the king of the day, I've been working with my coach quite a bit and feel like I'm going pretty fast.”

While Paine leads his class, fellows American’s Stuart McNay and David Hughes dropped to second in the men’s 470 competition after a second and two fifth place finishes saw them move onto 13 points.

Spain’s Onan Barreiros and Juan Curbelo Cabrera were able to overhaul them by moving onto 11, after winning the final two races of the day and being able to discard their highest score.

In the women’s race Brazil’s Fernanda Oliveira and Ana Luiza Barbachan lead on 10, with Austria’s Lara Vadlau and Jolanta Ogar three behind.

The Netherlands’ Rutger van Schaardenburg has built a commanding 16-point advantage over France’s Jean Baptiste Bernaz, while his compatriot Marit Bouwmeester also leads the women’s radial class on four points.

After nine races in the men’s 49er class Spain’s Diego Botín and Iago López Marra lead on 45.00 points.

In the 49erFX class, defending champions Alex Maloney and Molly Meech of New Zealand have a ten point advantage over their nearest rivals.

A good day for the Dutch team continued as Mandy Mulder and Coen de Koning moved four points clear of Australia’s Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin in the Nacra 17 class.

In the Paralympic classes, two victories and a second place propelled Britain’s Helena Lucas into top spot in the 2.4mR class, with two points separating her from Canada’s Bruce Millar.

Canada’s Paul Tingley, Logan Campbell and Scott Lutes currently have a two point lead over world champions John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas of Britain in the sonar class.