WEYMOUTH, England (Reuters) – New Zealand and Britain were going into the 470 women’s final on equal points at the London Olympic sailing on Friday, with gold the prize for one team.
World champions Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark of Britain and World Cup winners Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie, level after 10 races, were fighting to decide the color of their medals off England’s south coast.
Dutch duo Lisa Westerhof and Lobke Berkhout, in third place overall, were racing to avenge their defeat in this year’s world championships by France’s Camille Lecointre and Mathilde Geron who beat them to silver.
Lecointre and Geron were lying fourth, three points behind commercial pilot Westerhof and Berkhout going into Friday’s medal race.
Brazil, Australia and Italy were also in contention for the bronze with the race counting for double points.
The first 10 of the 20-strong field qualified for the medal final raced on the spectator-friendly Nothe course. The 470 conventional racing dinghy is the one boat which is the same for men and women.
Winds freshened on Friday after the women’s lay day on Thursday and shifted to southeasterly, bringing the swell from the ocean.
(Editing by Clare Fallon)
