MARSEILLE, France, July 31 (Xinhua) -- Sarah Steyaert and Charline Picon of France regained the lead in women's skiff (49erFX) on Wednesday, heading into medal race scheduled on Thursday with other nine pairs of athletes, while Britain's Emma Wilson extended her advantage at the top of the women's windsurfing (iQFoil) standings.
On another unpredictable day on the water, the French crew did enough to edge ahead with two finishes in the top 10. The Dutch pair of Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz had their least productive day in Marseille so far, but a fourth placed finish in race 11 puts them just two points off the French leaders. Sweden's Vilma Bobeck and Rebecca Netzler held onto third overall following a brilliant day of sailing, confidently winning the opening two races. China's duo Hu Xiaoyu and Shan Mengyuan placed 20th overall.
"It was a critical day with the same winds as yesterday - they were quite unstable. We missed the first one because we made a bad decision with strategy as we thought the right would pay. But we can be proud of the reaction in the two next races. We can be proud to be top tonight," Picon said.
In the men's 49er class competition, Diego Botin and Florian Trittel of Spain successfully defended their top spot, while Ireland's Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove, and Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie of New Zealand placed second and third overall. Wen Zaiding and Liu Tian of China finished the opening series in 10th spot, edging into the medal race.
After the Marathon Race had to be abandoned due to a lack of wind, Wilson responded with three race wins, putting her 19 points clear of the rest of the pack. Israel's Sharon Kantor is the closest competitor to Wilson and she was also the only other windsurfer to pick up a win on Wednesday. Yan Zheng of China fell to 13th place after 11 races.
Grae Morris of Australia moved to the top of the leaders board of men's windsurfing with three brilliant races during the day, Pawel Tarnowski of Poland kept the second spot. Huang Jingye of China placed 20th overall. ■
