But Mills and Clark guaranteed at least a silver
Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes have missed out on a medal in the 49er after finishing fifth in the medal race.
The pair had a chance of a bronze, but only if they finished at least three places clear of the Danish and Finnish teams and ahead of the Austrian and French teams.
Australia’s Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen entered the race having already secured the gold medal, as had Peter Burling and Blair Tuke of New Zealand with the silver.
Morrison and Rhodes began strongly, but, with the Austrian team dominating the race, they eventually slipped back to fifth.
Denmark’s Allan Norregaard and Peter Land fought their way back to third to win the bronze ahead of Austria’s Nico Delle Karth and Nikolaus Resch with Morrison and Rhodes in third.
But it was better news for Britain in the women’s 470 class as Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark dragged themselves into a tie for the lead and secured at least a silver medal, before their medal race on Friday.
Mills and Clark started the day four points behind main rivals Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie of New Zealand, but the gap grew to a near-unassailable eight points after the first race, which Aleh and Powrie won with Mills and Clark back in eighth – their worst result of the regatta.
However, while the Australian team of Elise Rechichi and Belinda Stowell won the day’s second race by more than two minutes, Mills and Clark led home the rest in second.
With Aleh and Powrie coming home in 18th – their worst result – both pairs know that beating the other will win them a gold medal.
Tomorrow Luke Patience and Stuart Bithell go for gold in the men’s 470 medal race.
Picture courtesy of onEdition.