Neither team able to leapfrog Antipodean rivals
British teams have had to settle for silver medals in both the men’s and women’s 470 classes.
Luke Patience and Stuart Bithell (pictured) were guaranteed at least a silver before the medal race and could have snatched gold if they beat Australian rivals, Mat Belcher and Malcolm Page, by two positions.
Despite rounding the first mark in the lead with the Aussies third, Patience and Bithell dropped to fourth, two places behind Belcher and Page, who took gold.
In the women’s event Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark were also certain of silver and would have won gold if they had beaten New Zealand’s Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie in the medal race.
But the Kiwis led the race from the first mark to the finish to seal gold.
Mills and Clark rounded the first mark tenth of ten and only gained one position in the short medal race.
But both the young men and women’s teams leave the Olympics with excellent silver medals in their first Games.
The results leaves Britain with one gold and four silvers from the ten sailing events, leaving them behind Australia in the sailing medal table who won gold in the Laser, 49er and men’s 470 class.
Picture courtesy of onEdition.