Trailing the Italians by four points entering the medal race, Hansen and Iversen were left with the task of having to beat the reigning European Champions and put at least one boat between them.

With the Danes in second place, Conti and Clapcich fell from third to seventh by the windward mark.

Despite fighting desperately to reclaim a winning position, they could only catch two of the boats and had to settle for silver, granting Hansen and Iversen their first European title.

It marked the second successive major championships in a row where Conti and Clapcich have come undone in the medal race.

In February, the pair got stuck for five minutes as the rest of the fleet passed them at the 49erFX World Championships in Clearwater Beach in Florida.

World champions Tamara Echegoyen and Berta Betanzos of Spain ended up tied with the Argentinian crew of Victoria Travascio and Maria Sol Branz on 101 points, but claimed the bronze medal by virtue of their better medal-race position - third to their rivals' seventh.

Great Britain's Charlotte Dobson and Sophie Ainsworth won the medal race, but finished ninth overall.

In the 49er, New Zealand’s Peter Burling and Blair Tuke topped the medal race standings to complete a comfortable overall victory.

Australia’s Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen, the London 2012 gold medallists, sailed into the runners-up spot ahead of home favourites Diego Botin and Iago Lopez, fourth-place finishers in the medal race.