Leadership changes hands again at ISAF 470 World Championships as medal races draw closer

Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark have a one point lead in the women's 470 event ©Getty Images

Leadership of the men’s and women’s competitions at the 2015 International Sailing Federation (ISAF) 470 World Championships changed hands once again as the battle for Rio 2016 qualification stepped up, with the medal races approaching in Haifa Bay, Israel.

Britain’s Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark, silver medallists at London 2012, had lost top spot after Austria’s Lara Vadlau and Jola Ogar produced an excellent display in the sixth race of the competition to edge one point ahead.

The third and fifth place finishes on the fourth day of the regatta, though, saw Mills and Clark move back to the top of the standings, with their nearest rivals dropping back after a 10th place finish was discarded but meant an earlier eighth place was added to their overall score.

The Austrian pair, however, came second in the second race of the day to lie just a point off the lead and know a poor result for the British crew could see their 12th place, in the first race of the regatta, come into play which would give the defending world champions the advantage again.

“We started well and had a very good first beat, apart from the very first race of the regatta, so we have always been in with a shout,” said Clark.

“But it is really patchy and you are never safe until you are over the finish line.

“We both have reasonably similar discards, but they have two points on us if those get used.

“So it is anyone’s regatta of the top six until we at least get one race done tomorrow.”

The French duo of Camille Lecointre and Helene Defrance currently lie third but are 17 points adrift of the leaders with inconsistency halting their progress after they came first and 13th in the day’s two races.

Croatia's Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic lost the lead in the men's event ©Getty Images

The leadership of the men’s 470 event changed hands for the third consecutive day with competition continuing to prove extremely tight with only two points separating the top four pairs in the standings.

Sweden’s Anton Dahlberg and Fredrik Bergstrom though took the race leader’s yellow bib after recording first and eighth place finishes to move level on points with the Croatian duo Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic.

Both pairs have 39 points but the Swedes assumed the lead on a tiebreak.

They will need to continue their excellent form if they are remain top of the standings as Russia’s Pavel Sozykin and Denis Gribanov lie level with defending champions Mathew Belcher and Will Ryan of Australia on 41 points.

Tomorrow’s racing with decide the top 10 pairs in both the men’s and women’s events, with those crews advancing to the medal races on Saturday (October 17) where Rio 2016 berths will be the focus of several countries.